
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Copyright No*A\it 


Shelf_:Skk .. 


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






































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ROLLO ON 


THE ATLANTIC 


JACOB ABBOTT 


CHICAGO 


W. B. CON KEY COMPANY 


PUBLISHERS 


42873 


Libiwry of Congress 

' WU Cums RECEIVED 

SEP 4 1900 

Copyright entry 

Mo. Qx . 2*.Q. . 

SECOND COPY. 

Dowered to 

OKGttt DIVISION, 

S T 5 1900 



Copyright, iooo, by W. 


B. Conkky Company. 


74138 


.G 









PREFACE. 


In the series of narratives to which his vol¬ 
ume pertains, we offer to the readers of the 
Rollo Books a continuation of the history of 
our little hero, by giving them an account of 
the adventures which such a boy may be sup¬ 
posed to meet with in making a tour in Europe. 
The books are intended to be books of instruc¬ 
tion rather than of mere amusement; and in 
perusing them, the reader may feel assured 
that all the information which they contain, 
not only in respect to the countries visited, and 
to the customs, usages, and modes of life that 
are described, but also in regard to the general 
character of the incidents and adventures that 
the young travelers meet with, is in most strict 
accordance with fact. The main design of the 
narrative is, thus, the communication of use- 
il knowledge; and everything which they con¬ 
un, except what is strictly personal, in rela- 
on to the actors in the story, may be 
;epended upon as exactly and scrupulously 



PRINCIPAL PERSONS OF THE STORY. 
Rollo : twelve years of age. 

Mr. and Mrs. Holiday: Rollo’s father and mother, trav¬ 
eling in Europe. 

Thanny: Rollo’s younger brother. 

Jane: Rollo’s cousin, adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Holiday. 
Mr. George: a young gentleman, Rollo’s uncle. 


4 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEK. PAGE. 

I. Taking Passage. 7 

II. The Embarkation. 22 

III. Departure. 38 

IV. Getting Settled. 50 

V. On Deck. 63 

VI. A Conversation .75 

VII. Incidents. 90 

VIII. The Storm.109 

IX. The Passengers’Lottery.128 

X. The End of the Lottery.149 

XI. The Arrival.160 


5 
















/ 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


CHAPTER I. 

TAKING PASSAGE. 

When Rollo was about twelve years of age, 
he made a voyage to Europe under rather ex¬ 
traordinary circumstances. He went alone; 
that is to say, he had no one to take care of 
him. In fact, in addition to being obliged to 
take care of himself, he had also his little sis¬ 
ter Jane to take care of; for she went with 
him.* The way it happened that two such 
children were sent to sea on such a long voy- 
age, without any one to have them in charge, 
was this: 

Rollo’s father and mother had gone to 
Europe to make a tour, a year before this 
time, and had taken Rollo’s brother Nathan, 
or Thanny, as Rollo used most frequently to 
call him, with them. They had gone partly 

*It ought here to be stated, that Jane was not really 
Rollo’s sister, though he always called her and consid¬ 
ered her so. She was really his cousin. Her father and 
mother had both died when she was about six years old, 
and then Mr. and Mrs. Holiday had adopted her as their 
own child, so that ever since that time she had lived 
with Rollo and Nathan as their sister. She was very 
nearly of the same age with Nathan. 

7 



8 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


for pleasure, but more especially on account of 
Mr. Holiday’s health, which was not good. It 
was thought that the voyage, and the recrea¬ 
tion and pleasure of traveling in Europe, would 
be a benefit to him. In certain cases where a 
person’s health is impaired, especially when 
one is slowly recovering from past sickness, 
nothing is found to have a more beneficial 
effect upon the patient than for him to go away 
somewhere and have a good time. It was de¬ 
termined to try the effect of this remedy upon 
Mr. Holiday, and so he went to Europe. Mrs. 
Holiday went with him. They took Thanny, 
too, to be company for them on the way. 
Thanny was at this time about seven years 
old. 

A child of that age, for a traveling compan¬ 
ion, is sometimes a source of great pleasure, 
and sometimes, on the other hand, he is the 
means of great annoyance and vexation. This 
' depends upon whether he is obedient, patient, 
quiet, and gentle in his manners and demeanor, 
or noisy, inconsiderate, wilful, and intractable. 
A great many children act in such a manner, 
whenever they take a journey or go out to ride 
with their parents, that their parents, in self 
defense, are obliged to adopt the plan of almost 
always contriving to leave them behind. 

It was not so, however, with Nathan. He 
was an excellent boy in traveling, and always 
made the ride or the journey more pleasant 
for those who took him with them. This was 
the reason why, when it was determined that 
Mr. and Mrs. Holiday should go to England, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


9 


that Mrs. Holiday was very desirous that Na¬ 
than should go, too. And so far as Nathan 
was concerned, the voyage and the tour proved 
to be all that Mr. and Mrs. Holiday expected 
or desired. In regard to other points, how¬ 
ever, it was less successful. Mr. Holiday did 
not improve in health, and he did not have a 
good time. Mrs. Holiday was anxious about 
her husband’s health, and she was uneasy, too, 
at being separated so long from her other two 
children—Rollo and little Jane, especially lit¬ 
tle Jane—whom she had learned to love as if 
she were really her daughter. So, before the 
year was ended, they both heartily wished 
themselves back in America again. 

But now Mr. Holiday’s health grew worse, 
and he seemed too ill to return. This was in 
the month of May. It was decided by the 
physician, that it would not be best for him to 
attempt to return until September, and per¬ 
haps not until the following spring. Mrs. Hol¬ 
iday was herself very much disappointed at 
this result. She, however, submitted to it very 
cheerfully. “I must be as good as Thanny,” 
said she. “He submits patiently to his disap¬ 
pointments, and why should not I submit to 
mine. His are as great, I suppose, for him to 
bear as mine are for me.’’ 

When Mrs. Holiday found that she could not 
go to her children, she began to be very desir¬ 
ous that her children should come to her. She 
was at first almost afraid to propose such a 
thing to her husband, as she did not see how 
any possible plan could be formed for bringing 


10 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


Rollo and Jane across the wide and boisterous 
Atlantic alone. She, however, at length one 
day asked Mr. Holiday whether it would not 
be possible in some way to accomplish it. 

Mr. Holiday seemed half surprised and half 
pleased when he heard this proposal. At first 
he did not appear to know exactly what to say, 
or even to think. He sat looking into the fire, 
which was blazing in the grate before him, 
lost apparently in a sort of pleasing abstrac¬ 
tion. There was a faint smile upon his coun¬ 
tenance, but he did not speak a word. 

“That is an idea!” he said, at length, in a 
tone of satisfaction. “That is really an idea!” 

Mrs. Holiday did not speak. She awaited in 
silence, and with no little anxiety, the result 
of her husband’s meditations. 

“That is really quite an idea!” he said at 
length. “Let us get Rollo and Jane here, and 
then we shall feel entirely easy, and can re¬ 
turn to America whenever we get ready, be it 
sooner or later. We shall be at home at once 
where we are. ” 

“I suppose it will cost something to have 
them come over,” said Mrs. Holiday. She 
was not so anxious to have the children come 
as to desire that the question should be decided 
without having all the objections fully consid¬ 
ered. Besides, she was afraid that if the ques¬ 
tion were to be decided hastily, without proper 
regard to the difficulties that were in the way, 
there would be danger that it would be recon¬ 
sidered after more mature reflection, and the 
decision reversed. So she wished that every- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


11 


thing that could be brought against the project 
should be fully taken into the account at the 
outset. 

“I suppose,” said she, “that their expenses 
in coming out, and in returning, and in remain¬ 
ing here with us, in the interim, would amount 
to a considerable sum.” 

“Yes,” said Mr. Holiday, ‘‘but that is of no 
consequence. ” 

“I don’t know what we should do about hav¬ 
ing them taken care of on the passage,” added 
Mrs. Holiday. 

“O, there would be no difficulty about that,” 
said Mr. Holiday. ‘‘George could easily find 
some passenger coming out in the ship, who 
would look after them while at sea, I have no 
doubt. And if he should not find any one, it 
would be of no consequence. Rollo could take 
care of himself. ” 

‘‘And of Jane, too?” asked Mrs. Holiday. 

‘‘Yes, ” replied Mr. Holiday, “and of Jane, 
too; that is, with the help of the chamber¬ 
maids. They have excellent chambermaids on 
board the Atlantic steamers.” 

So it was concluded to send for Rollo and 
Jane to embark on board the steamer at New 
York, and sail for Europe. Mr. Holiday wrote 
to Rollo’s uncle George, requesting him to 
make the necessary arrangements for the voy¬ 
age, and then to take the children to New 
York, and put them on board. He was to com¬ 
mit them, if possible, to the charge of some 
one of the passengers on board the ship. If, 
for any reason, he should not succeed in find- 


12 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


ing any passenger to take care of them, he was 
to state the case to the captain of the ship, 
.-that he might see to them a little from time to 
time; and, in addition to this, he was to put 
them under the special charge of one of the 
chambermaids, promising her that she should 
be well rewarded for her services, on the ar¬ 
rival of the ship in Liverpool. 

The important tidings of the determination 
which had been made, that Rollo and Jane 
should actually cross the Atlantic, were first 
announced to the children one evening near 
the end of May. They were eating their sup¬ 
per at the time, seated on a stone seat at the 
bottom of the garden, where there was a 
brook. Their supper, as it consisted of a 
bowl of bread and milk for each, was very 
portable, and they had accordingly gone 
down to their stone seat to eat it, as they 
often did on pleasant summer evenings. The 
'stone seat was in such a position that the set¬ 
ting sun shone very cheerily upon it. On this 
occasion, Rollo had finished his milk, and was 
just going down to the brook by a little path 
which led that way, in order to see if there 
were any fishes in the water; while J ane was 
giving the last spoonful of her milk to their 
kitten. On the stone near where Jane was sit¬ 
ting was a small bird-cage. This cage was one 
which Jane used to put her kitten in. The 
kitten was of a mottled color, which gave to 
its fur somewhat the appearance of spots; and 
so Jane called the little puss her tiger. As it 
was obviously proper that a tiger should be 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


13 


kept in a cage, Jane had taken a canary bird¬ 
cage, which she found one day in the garret, 
and had used it to put the kitten in. As she 
took the precaution never to keep the prisoner 
shut up long at a time, and as she almost 
always fed it in the cage, the kitten generally 
made no objections to going in whenever Jane 
desired it. 

“Here comes uncle George,” said Rollo. 

Jane was so busy pouring the spoonful of 
milk through the bars of the cage into a little 
shallow basin, which she kept for the purpose 
within, that she could not look up. 

“He is coming down through the garden,” 
said Rollo; “and he has got a letter in his 
hand. It’s from mother, I know.” 

So saying, Rollo began to caper about with 
delight, and then ran off to meet his uncle. 

Jane finished the work of pouring out the 
milk as soon as possible, and then followed 
him. They soon came back again, however, 
accompanying their uncle, and conducting him 
to the stone seat, where the children sat down 
to hear the letter. 

“Rollo,” said Mr. George, “how should you 
like to go to England?” 

“To go to England?” said Rollo, in a tone of 
exultation; “very much, indeed.” 

“Should you dare to go alone?” said Mr. 
George; “that is, with nobody to take care of 
you?” 

“Yes, indeed!” said Rollo, emphatically. 
“I should not need anybody to take care of 
me.” 


14 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


“I don’t know but you will have to go,” 
said Mr. George; “and not only take care of 
yourself, but of Jane besides.” 

“Why, am I to go, too?” asked Jane. As 
she said this, she began to look quite alarmed. 

“How should you like the plan?” said Mr. 
George. 

“O, I should not dare to go, ” said Jane, 
shaking her head with a very serious air. “I 
should not dare to go at all, unless I had some¬ 
body to take care of me bigger than Rollo. ” 

“Ha!” exclaimed Rollo, “I could take care 
of you perfectly well. I could buy the tickets 
and show you down to supper, and help you 
over the plank at the landings, and everything 
else. ” 

Rollo’s experience of steamer life had been 
confined to trips on Long Island Sound, or up 
and down the Hudson River. 

“I suppose you would be dreadfully sick on 
the way,” said Mr. George. 

“O, no,” said Rollo, “I should not be sick. 
What’s the use of being sick? Besides, I never 
am sick in a steamboat.” 

“No,” said Jane, shaking her head and look¬ 
ing quite anxious; “I should not dare to go 
with you at all. I should not dare to go unless 
my mother were here to go with me; or my 
father, at least.” 

“I am afraid you will have to go,” said Mr. 
George, “whether you are afraid to or not.” 

“That I shall have to go?” repeated Jane. 

“Yes,” replied Mr. George. “Your father 
has written me that he is not well enough to 


ROLtO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


15 


come home, and I am to send you and Rollo 
out in the next steamer. So that you see you 
have nothing to say or to do about it. All you 
have to do is to submit to destiny.” 

Jane did not know very precisely what was 
meant by the phrase, submitting to destiny; 
but she understood very well that, in this case, 
it meant that she must go to England to join 
her father and mother, whether she liked the 
the plan or not. She was silent a moment, 
and looked very thoughtful. She then put 
forth her hand to her kitten, which was just at 
that moment coming out of the cage, having 
finished drinking the milk which she had put 
there for it, and took it into her lap, saying at 
the same time: 

“Well, then, I will go; only you must let me 
take my Tiger with me.” 

“That you can do,” said Mr. George. “I am 
very willing to compromise the matter with 
you in that way. You can take Tiger with 
you, if you choose.” 

“And the cage, too?” said Jane, putting her 
hand upon the ring at the top of it. 

“Yes,” said Mr. George, “and the cage, too.” 

“Well!” said Jane, speaking in a tone of 
great satisfaction and joyousness, “then 1 will 
go. Get into the cage, Tiger, and we’ll go 
and get ready. ” 

The steamer was to sail in about a week 
from this time. So Mr. George proceeded 
immediately to New York to engage passage. 
When Rollo’s aunt, who had had the care of 
him and Jane during the absence of Mr. and 


16 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


Mrs. Holiday, heard how soon the steamer 
would sail, she said that she did not think 
that that would afford time enough to get the 
children ready. 

“O, it takes no time,” said Mr. George, “to 
get people ready to go to Europe. Put into 
a trunk plenty of plain common clothing for 
the voyage, and the work is done. As for the 
rest, people can generally find pretty much 
everything they want on the other side.” 

Mr. George went to New York to engage the 
passage for the children. And inasmuch as 
many of the readers of this book who reside 
in the country may never have had the oppor¬ 
tunity of witnessing the arrangements con¬ 
nected with Atlantic steamers, they may per¬ 
haps like to know how this was done. In the 
first place, it was necessary to get a permit to 
go on board the ship. The crowds of people 
in New York, who are always going to and 
fro, are so great, and the interest felt in these 
great steamships is so strong, that if everybody 
were allowed free -access and egress to them, 
the decks and cabins of the vessels would be 
always in confusion. So they build a bar¬ 
ricade across the great pier at which the ships 
lie, with ponderous gates, one large one for 
carts and carriages, and another smaller one 
for people on foot, opening through it, and no 
one is admitted without a ticket. Mr. George 
went to the office in Wall Street and procured 
such a ticket, which one of the clerks in at¬ 
tendance there gave him, on his saying that 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


17 


lie wished to go on board to select a state room 
for some passengers. 

Provided with this ticket, Mr. George took 
an omnibus at Wall Street and rode up to 
Canal Street. At Canal Street he took another 
omnibus, which carried him nearly to the 
East River. There he left the omnibus, and 
proceeded the rest of the way on foot. The 
crowd of people on the sidewalks going and 
coming, and of carts, drays, wagons, and 
coaches in the street, was immense. There 
was one crossing where, for some time, Mr. 
George could not get over, so innumerable 
and closely wedged together were the vehicles 
of all descriptions that occupied the way. 
There were many people that were stopped 
with him on the sidewalk. Among them was 
a servant girl, with a little boy under her 
charge, whom she was leading by the hand. 
The girl looked very anxious, not knowing how 
to get across the street. 

“Let me carry the child across for you,” said 
Mr. George. 

So saying he took the child up gently, but 
quickly, in his arms, and watching a momen¬ 
tary opening in the stream of carriages, he 
pressed through, the servant girl following 
him. He set the boy down upon the sidewalk. 
The girl said that she was very much obliged 
to him, indeed; and then Mr. George went on. 

Just then a small and ragged boy held out 
his hand, and with a most woe-begone expres¬ 
sion of countenance and a piteous tone of voice, 
begged Mr. George to give him a few pennies, 

2 Atlantic 


18 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


to keep him from starving. Mr. George took 
no notice of him, but passed on. A moment 
afterward he turned round to look at the boy 
again. He saw him take a top out of his 
pocket, and go to spinning it upon the side¬ 
walk, and then, suddenly seeing some other 
boys, the young rogue caught up his top and 
ran after them with shouts of great hilarity 
and glee. He was an imposter. Mr. George 
knew this when he refused to give him any 
money. 

Mr. George then went on again. He came, 
at length, to the great gates which led to the 
pier. There was a man just within the gate, 
walking to and fro, near the door of a sort 
of office, or lodge, which he kept there. Mr. 
George attempted to open the gate. 

“Please show your ticket, sir,” said he. 

Mr. George took out his ticket and gave it to 
the porter, whereupon the porter opened the 
gate and let him in. 

Mr. George found himself under an enor¬ 
mous roof, which spread itself like a vast 
canopy over his head, and extended from side 
to side across the pier. Under this vast shed 
laborers were wheeling boxes and bales of 
merchandise to and fro, while small steam 
engines of curious forms and incessant activity 
were at work hoisting coal on board the ships 
from lighters alongside, and in other similar 
operations. There were two monstrous steam¬ 
ships lying at this pier, one on each side. Mr. 
George turned toward the one on the left. 
There was a long flight of steps leading up 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


19 


from the pier to the decks of this ship. It was 
formed by a staging, which extended from the 
pier to the bulwarks of the ship, like a stair¬ 
case, with a railing on each side. Mr. George 
ascended these steps to the bulwarks, and 
thence descended by a short flight of steps to 
the deck itself, and then went along the deck 
till he came to the door leading to the cabins. 

He found within quite a number of cabins, 
arranged on different floors, like the different 
stories of a house. These cabins were very 
resplendent with gilding and carving, and 
were adorned with curtains and mirrors on 
every side. They presented to Mr. George, 
as he walked through them, a very imposing 
spectacle. Along the sides of them were a 
great many little bed rooms, called state 
rooms. These state rooms were all very beau¬ 
tifully finished, and were furnished with every 
convenience which passengers could require. 
Mr. George selected two of these state rooms. 
They were two that were adjoining to each 
other, and they were connected by a door. 
There were two beds, or rather bed places, in 
each state room, one above the other. Mr. 
George chose the lower berth in one state 
room for Rollo, and the lower one in the next 
state room for Jane. When he had chosen 
the berths in this manner, he wrote the name 
of each of the children on a card, and then 
pinned the cards up upon the curtains of the 
respective berths. 

“There!" said he. “That is all right. Now 
perhaps some lady will take the other berth 


20 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


in Jane’s room, and some gentleman that in 
Rollo’s. Then they will both have company 
in their rooms. Otherwise I must find some¬ 
body to take care of them both.” 

Mr. George then left the ship and went back 
to the office in Wall Street, to engage the 
berths and pay the passage money. The office 
was spacious and handsomely furnished, and 
there were several clerks in it writing at 
desks. 

There were two rooms, and in the back room 
was a table, with large plans of the ship upon 
it, on which all the cabins and state rooms of 
the several decks were represented in their 
proper positions. The names of the various 
passengers that had engaged passage in the 
ship were written in the several state rooms 
which they had chosen. The clerk wrote the 
names, Master Holiday and Miss Holiday, in 
the state rooms which Mr. George pointed out 
to him, and, when he had done so, Mr. George 
looked over all the other names that had been 
written in before, to see if there were any 
persons whom he knew among them. To his 
great gratification he found that there were 
several such. 

“ Yes, ” said he, as he rose up from the exam¬ 
ination of the plan, “there are several gentle¬ 
men there who will be very ready, under the 
circumstances of the case, to do Mr. Holiday 
the favor of looking after his children during 
the voyage.” 

Being thus, in a measure, relieved of all solic- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


21 


itude, Mr. George walked about the room a 
few minutes, examining the pictures of the 
several steamers of the line which were hang¬ 
ing on the walls, and then went away. 


22 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


CHAPTER II. 

THE EMBARKATION. 

The time fixed for the sailing of the steamer 
was on Tuesday morning; and Mr. George, 
in order to have time to communicate with 
some of the gentlemen to whose care he in¬ 
tended to intrust the two children, planned 
his journey to New York so as to arrive there 
in good season on Monday. He supposed that 
he should be able, without any difficulty, to 
find one or the other of them in the afternoon 
or evening of that day. 

“And if worst comes to the worst,” added 
he to himself, in his reflections on the subject, 
“I can certainly find them at the ship, by going 
on board an hour or two before she sails, and 
watching the plank as the passengers come up 
from the pier.” 

Worst did come to the worst, it se$ms; for 
when Mr. George came home at nine o’clock 
in the evening, on Monday, and Rollo came 
up to him very eagerly in the parlor of the 
boarding house, to ask him whom he had 
found to take charge of them, he was forced 
to confess that he had not found any one. 

“I am glad of it!” exclaimed Rollo, joyfully. 
“I am glad of it! I like it a great deal bet¬ 
ter to take care of ourselves. ’ ’ 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


23 


He then began dancing about the room, and 
finally ran off in great glee, to inform Jane 
of the prospect before them. Rollo was very 
ambitious of being considered a man. 

He found Jane sitting on the stairs with 
another child of her own age, that she had 
become acquainted with at the boarding house; 
for it was at a boarding house, and not at a 
hotel, that Mr. George had taken lodgings for 
his party. This child’s name was Lottie; 
that is, she was commonly called Lottie, though 
her real name was Charlotte. She was a beau¬ 
tiful child, with beaming black eyes, a radiant 
face and dark glossy curls of hair hanging down 
upon her neck. Jane and Lottie were playing 
together in a sort of recess at a landing of the 
stairs, where there was a sofa and a window. 
They had Tiger and the cage with them. The 
door was open and Tiger was playing about 
the cage, going in and out at her pleasure. 

“Jane,” said Rollo, “uncle George cannot 
find anybody to take care of you, and so I am 
going to take care of you. ’ ’ 

Jane did not answer. 

“Are you going to England?” asked Lottie. 

“Yes,” replied Jane, mournfully; “and 
there is nobody to go with us, to take care 
of us. ” 

“I went to England once,” said Lottie. 

“Did you?” asked Jane, “and did you go 
across the Atlantic Ocean?” 

“Yes,” said Lottie. 

“Of course she did,” said Rollo; “there is 
no other way. ” 


24 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


“And how did you get along?” said Jane. 

“O, very well,” said Lottie; “we had a very 
good time playing about the decks and cabins. ” 

Jane felt somewhat reassured by these dec¬ 
larations of Lottie, and she even began to think 
that if there was nothing to be done in cross¬ 
ing the Atlantic but to play about the decks 
and cabins all the way, there was a possibility 
that Rollo might be able to take care of her. 

“My uncle is going on a voyage, too, to¬ 
morrow,” added Lottie. 

“What uncle?” asked Jane. 

“My uncle Thomas,” said Lottie. “He 
lives in this house. He is packing up his trunk 
now. He is going to Charleston. I wish I 
were going with him.” 

“Do you like to go to sea?” asked Jane. 

“Yes,” said Lottie, “pretty well. I like to 
see the sailors climb up the masts and rig¬ 
ging ; and I like the cabins, because there are 
so many sofas in them, and so many places to 
hide. ” 

Little Jane felt much less uneasiness at the 
idea of going to sea after hearing* Lottie give 
such favorable accounts of her own experience. 
Still she was not entirely satisfied. As for 
Rollo, his eagerness to go independent of all 
supervision did not arise wholly from vanity 
and presumption. He was now twelve years 
of age, and that is an age which fairly qualifies 
a boy to bear some considerable burdens of 
responsibility and duty. At any rate, it is an 
age at which it ought to be expected that the 
powers and characteristics of manhood should, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


25 


at least, begin to be developed. It is right, 
therefore, that a boy at that age should begin 
to feel something like a man, and to desire that 
opportunities should arise for exercising the 
powers which he finds thus developing them¬ 
selves and growing stronger every day within 
him. 

The fact that Lottie’s uncle Thomas was 
going to embark for Charleston on the same 
day that had been fixed for Rollo’s embarka¬ 
tion for Europe might seem at first view a very 
unimportant circumstance. It happened, how¬ 
ever, that it led, in fact, to very serious conse¬ 
quences. The case was this. It is necessary, 
however, first to explain, for the benefit of 
those readers of this book who may never have 
had opportunities to become acquainted with 
the usages of great cities, that there are two 
separate systems in use in such cities for the 
transportation respectively of baggage, and 
of persons, from place to place. For bag¬ 
gage and parcels, there are what are called 
expresses. The owners of these expresses 
have offices in various parts of the city, where 
books are kept, in which a person may go and 
have an entry made of any trunk, or bag, or 
other package which he may wish to have con¬ 
veyed to any place. He enters in the book 
what the parcel is, where it is, and where he 
wishes to have it taken. The express man 
then, who has a great number of wagons 
employed for this purpose, sends for the parcel 
by the first wagon that comes in. 

For persons who wish to be conveyed from 


26 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


place to place, there are carriages all the time 
standing at certain points by the sides of the 
streets, ready for any one who calls them, and 
there are also stables where carriages are 
always in readiness. Now, it so happened 
that Lottie’s uncle Thomas had concluded to 
have his trunk taken down to the Charleston 
ship by the express, intending to walk to the 
pier himself from his office, which was in the 
lower part of the city, not far from the pier 
where his ship was lying. So he went to an 
express office, and there, at his dictation, the 
clerk made the following entry in his book— 

Trunk at 780 Broadway, to steamer Caro¬ 
lina, Pier No. 4, North River. To-morrow, at 
half past nine o’clock. 

On the other hand, Mr. George, as he 
required a carriage to take the children down, 
did not go to the express office at all. He 
intended to take their trunk on the carriage. 
So he went to the stable, apd there, at his 
dictation, the clerk made on the book there the 
following entry— 

Carriage at 780 Broadway. To-morrow, at 
half past nine o’clock. 

In accordance with this arrangement, there¬ 
fore, a little after nine o’clock, both the trunks 
were got ready at the boarding house, each in 
its own room. The chambermaid in Rollo’s 
room, when she saw that the trunk was ready, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


27 


offered to carry it down, which, as she was a 
good strong Irish girl, she could very easily 
do. She accordingly took it up in her arms and 
carried it down stairs to the front entry, and 
put it down near the door. One of the waiters 
of the house was standing by when she did this. 

“What is that, Mary?” said he. 

“It is a trunk to go to the steamer,'’ said 
Mary. “There is a man coming for it pretty 
soon ” 

She meant, of course, that it was to go to 
the Liverpool steamer, and the man who was 
to come for it was the driver of the carriage 
that Mr. George had engaged. She knew 
nothing about any other trunk, as the room 
which Lottie’s uncle occupied was attended by 
another chambermaid. 

Mary, having deposited the trunk in its 
place, returned up stairs, to assist in getting 
Rollo and Jane ready. A moment afterward 
the express man, whom Lottie’s uncle had sent 
for his trunk rang the door bell. The waiter 
opened the door. 

“I came for a trunk,’’ said the man, “to take 
to the steamer. ’’ 

“Yes,” said the waiter. “Here it is, all 
ready. They have just brought it down. ’’ 

So the express man took up the trunk, and, 
carrying it out, put it on his wagon; then, 
mounting on his seat, he drove away. 

Five minutes afterward, the carriage, which 
Mr. George had engaged arrived at the door. 
Mr. George and the children came down the 


28 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


stairs. Mr. George, as soon as he reached the 
lower hall, inquired,— 

“Where is the trunk?” 

“The man has taken it, sir,” said he. 

“Ah, he has, has he? That is all right.” 

So Mr. George and the children got into the 
carriage, the driver holding the door open for 
them as they did so. As the drivel was about 
to shut the door, Mr. George said,— 

“Steamer Pacific, foot of Canal Street.” 

The driver, taking this for his direction, 
mounted his box, and drove rapidly away. 

When the party arrived at the gates which 
led to the pier they found a great concourse 
of people and a throng of carts and carriages 
blocking up the way. The great gate was open, 
and a stream of carriages containing passen¬ 
gers, and of carts and express wagons convey¬ 
ing baggage, was pouring in. Mr. George’s 
carriage was admitted, at length, in its turn, 
and drove on until it came opposite the long 
stairway which led on board the ship. Here 
it stopped, and Mr. George and the children 
got out. 

“Where is the trunk?” said Mr. George, 
looking before and behind the carriage. 
“Why, where is the trunk? You have lost the 
trunk off of the carriage, driver, in coming 
down. ” 

“No, sir,” said the driver; “there was no 
trunk.” 

“There certainly was,” said Mr. George; 
“and they told me that you had put it on. ” 

“No, sir,” said the driver. “This is the 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


29 


first time I have heard anything about any 
trunk. ” 

Mr. George was now quite seriously alarmed. 

He looked about this way and that, and did 
not seem to know what to do. In the mean¬ 
time the line of carriages from behind pressed 
on, and the drivers of them began to call out 
to clear the way. Mr. George found himself 
compelled to decide upon something very 
promptly. 

“Drive over to the other side of the pier,” 
said he, “and wait there till I come.” 

Then, taking the two children by the hand, 
he began to lead them up a long plank by 
which the people were going on board. 

Mr. George said nothing, but continued to 
lead the children along, the throng before and 
behind them being so dense that they could 
not see at all where they were going. When 
they reached the top of the stairway, they 
descended by a few steps, and so came on 
board. The children then found themselves 
moving along what seemed a narrow passage 
way, amid crowds of people, until at length 
they came to a short and steep flight of steps, 
which led up to what seemed to Jane a sort of 
a roof. The balustrade, or what served as 
balustrade for these steps, was made of rope, 
and painted green. By help of this rope, and 
by some lifting on the part of Mr. George, 
Rollo and Jane succeeded in getting up, and, 
at length, found themselves in a place where 
they could see. 

They were on what was called the promenade 


30 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


deck. There were masts, and a great smoke- 
pipe, and a great amount of ropes and rigging" 
rising up above them, and there were many" 
other curious objects around. The children 
had, however, no time to attend to these things, 
for Mr. George led them rapidly along to that 
part of the promenade deck which was opposite 
to the long plank, where the people were com¬ 
ing up from the pier. Mr. George left the chil¬ 
dren here for a minute or two, while he went 
and brought two camp stools for them to sit 
upon. He placed these stools near the edge 
of the deck. There was a railing to keep them 
from falling off. 

“There, children,” said he. “Now you can 
sit here and see the people come on board. It 
is a very funny thing to see. I am going after 
the trunk. You must not mind if I don’t come 
back for a long time. The ship will not sail 
yet for two hours. You must stay here, how¬ 
ever, all the time. You must not go away 
from this place on any consideration.” 

So saying, Mr. George went away. A 
moment afterward the children saw him going 
down the plank to the pier. As soon as he 
reached the pier he forced his way through the 
crowd to the other side of it, where the carri¬ 
age was standing. The children watched him 
all the time. When he reached the carriage, 
they saw that he stopped a moment to say a 
few words to the driver, and then hastily got 
into the carriage. The driver shut the door, 
mounted upon the box, and then drove out 
through the great gate and disappeared. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


31 


What Mr. George said to the driver was this. 

“Now, driver, we have got just two hours to 
find that trunk. I pay you full fare for the 
carriage for the two hours at any rate, and if 
we find the trunk and get it on board that ship 
before she sails, I pay you five dollars over. 
Now take me up to 780 Broadway as quick as 
you can go.” 

When the children found themselves thus 
left, they could not help feeling for a moment 
a very painful sensation of loneliness, although 
they were, in fact, surrounded with crowds, 
and were in the midst of a scene of the great¬ 
est excitement. Even Rollo found his cour¬ 
age and resolution ebbing away. He sat for 
a little time without speaking, and gazing upon 
the scene of commotion which he saw exhibited 
before him on the pier with a vague and bewil¬ 
dered feeling of anxiety and fear. Presently 
he turned to look at Jennie. He saw that she 
was trying to draw her handkerchief from her 
pocket, and that tears were slowly trickling 
down her cheek. 

“Jennie,” said he, “don’t cry. Uncle 
George will find the trunk pretty soon, and 
come back. ” 

It might, perhaps, be supposed that Rollo 
would have been made to feel more dispirited 
and depressed himself from witnessing Jennie’s 
dejection; but the effect was really quite the con¬ 
trary of this. In fact, it is found to be uni¬ 
versally true, that nothing tends to nerve the 
heart of man to greater resolution and energy 
in encountering and struggling against the 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


dangers and ills that surround him, than to 
have a woman near him and dependent upon 
him, and to see her looking up to him for pro¬ 
tection and support. It is true that Rollo was 
not a man, nor was Jennie a woman. But 
even in their early years the instincts and sym¬ 
pathies, which exercise so powerful a control 
over human heart in later periods of life, began 
to develop themselves in embryo forms. So 
Rollo found all his courage and confidence 
coming back again when he saw Jennie in 
tears. 

Besides, he reflected that he had a duty to 
perform. He perceived that the time had now 
come for him to show by his acts that he was 
really able to do what he had been so eager to 
undertake. He determined, therefore, that 
instead of yielding to the feelings of fear and 
despondency which his situation was so well 
calculated to inspire, he would nerve himself 
with resolution, and meet the emergencies of 
the occasion like a man. 

The first thing to be done, as he thought, 
was to amuse Jane, and divert her attention, 
if possible, from her fears. So he began to 
talk to her about what was taking place before 
them on the pier. 

“Here comes another carriage, Jennie,” said 
he. “Look, look! See what a parcel of 
trunks they have got on behind. That passen¬ 
ger has not lost his trunks, at any rate. See 
all these orange women, too, Jennie, standing 
on the edge of the pier. How many oranges 
they have got. Do you suppose they will sell 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


33 


them all? O Jennie, Jennie, look there! See 
that great pile of trunks going up into the 
air. ” 

Jane looked in the direction where Rollo 
pointed, and saw a large pile of trunks and 
boxes, eight or ten in all, slowly rising into 
the air, being drawn up by means of a mon¬ 
strous rope, which descended from a system of 
pulleys and machinery above. After attain¬ 
ing a considerable height, the whole mass 
slowly moved over toward the ship, and after 
reaching the center of the deck it began to 
descend again, with a great rattling of chains 
and machinery, until it disappeared from view 
somewhere on board. 

“That is the way they get the baggage on 
board, Jennie,” said Rollo. “I never should 
have thought of getting baggage on board in 
that way; should you, Jennie? I wonder 
where the trunks go to when the rope lets 
them down. It is in some great black hole, I 
have no doubt, down in the ship. The next 
load of trunks that comes I have a great mind 
to go and see.” 

“No, no!” said Jane, “you must not go away. 
Uncle George said that we must not move 
away from here on any account. ’ ’ 

“So he did,” said Rollo. “Well, I won’t go. ” 

After a short time, Jennie became so far 
accustomed to her situation as to feel in some 
degree relieved of her fears. In fact, she 
began to find it quite amusing to watch the 
various phases which the exciting scene that 
was passing before her assumed. Rollo endeav, 

3 Atlantic 


34 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


ored still more to encourage and cheer her, by 
frequently assuring her that their uncle would 
soon come back. He did this, indeed, from 
the best of motives; but it was not wise or even 
right to do so, for he could not possibly know 
when his uncle would come back, or even 
whether he would come back at all. 

In the meantime, the crowd of carriages and 
people coming and going on the pier was con¬ 
tinually increasing as the time for the depart¬ 
ure of the ship drew nigh. There were more 
than one hundred passengers to come on 
board, and almost every one of these had many 
friends to come with them, to bid them good 
by; so that there was a perpetual movement 
of carriages coming and going upon the pier, 
and the long plank which led up to the ship 
was crowded with people ascending and 
descending in continuous streams. The paddle 
wheels were all the time in motion, though 
the ship, being yet fastened to the shore, could 
not move away. The wheels, however, pro¬ 
duced a great commotion in the water, cover¬ 
ing the surface of it with rushing foam, and at 
the same time the steam was issuing from the 
escape pipe with a roaring sound, which 
seemed to crown and cover, as it were, without 
at all subduing the general din. 

Rollo had one very extraordinary proof of 
the deep and overwhelming character of the 
excitement of this scene, in an accident that 
occurred in the midst of it, which, for a 
moment, frightened him extremely. The pier 
where the steamer was lying was surrounded 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


35 


by other piers and docks, all crowded with 
boats and shipping. It happened that not 
very far from him there lay a small vessel, a 
sloop, which had come down the North River, 
and was now moored at the head of the dock. 
There was a family on board this sloop, and 
while Rollo was by chance looking that way, 
he saw a small child, perhaps seven or eight 
years old, fall off from the deck of the sloop 
into the water. The child did not sink, being 
buoyed up by her clothes; and as the tide was 
flowing strong at that time, an eddy of the 
water carried her slowly along away from the 
sloop toward the shore. The child screamed 
with terror, and Rollo could now and then 
catch the sound of her voice above the roaring 
of the steam. The sailors on board the sloop 
ran toward the boat, and began to let it down. 
Others on the shore got ready with poles and 
boat hooks, and though they were probably 
shouting and calling aloud to one another, 
Rollo could hear nothing but now and then the 
scream of the child. At length a man came 
running down a flight of stone steps which led 
from the pier to the water in a corner of the 
dock, throwing off his coat and shoes as he 
went down. He plunged into the water, swam 
out to the child, seized her by the clothes with 
one hand, and with the other swam back with 
her toward the steps and there they were both 
drawn out by the bystanders together. 

This scene, however, exciting as it would 
have been under any other circumstances, pro¬ 
duced very little impression upon the great 


3o 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


crowd that was engaged about the steamer. 
A few boys ran that way to see how the affair 
would result. Some others, standing on the 
deck of the ship or on the pier, turned and- 
looked in the direction of the child. Other¬ 
wise everything went on the same, The car¬ 
riages went and came, the people walked 
eagerly about among each other, exchanging 
farewells. The paddle wheels continued their 
motion, the steam pipe kept up its deafening 
roar, and the piles of trunks continued to rise 
into the air and swing over into the ship, with¬ 
out any interruption. 

The time passed rapidly on, and Mr. George 
did not return. At length but few new carri¬ 
ages came and the stream of people on the 
great plank seemed to flow all one way, and 
that was from the ship to the pier; while the 
crowd upon the pier had increased until it had 
become a mighty throng. At length the officer 
in command gave orders to rig the tackle to 
the great plank stair, with a view to heaving 
it back upon the pier. The last, lingering vis¬ 
itors to the ship, who had come to take leave 
of their friends, hastily bade them farewell 
and ran down the plank. The ship, in fact, 
was just on the point of casting off from the 
pier, when suddenly Mr. George’s carriage 
appeared at the great gate. It came in among 
the crowd at a very rapid rate; but still it was 
so detained by the obstructions which were in 
the way, that before it reached its stopping- 
place the plank had begun slowly to rise into 



ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


37 


the air, and the men on the pier had begun to 
throw off the fastenings. 

“You are too late, sir,” said a man to Mr. 
George. “You cannot get on board. ” 

“Put that trunk on board,” said Mr. George. 
“That’s all.” 

The man took up the trunk, which was by no 
means heavy, and just succeeded in passing it 
through into a sort of porthole, near the engine, 
which happened to be open. Mr. George then 
looked up to the place where he had left the 
children, and shouted out to them,— 

“Good by, children; don’t be afraid. Your 
father will come to the ship for you at Liver¬ 
pool. Good by, Jennie. Rollo will take excel¬ 
lent care of you. Don’t be afraid.” 

By this time the ship was slowly and 
majestically moving away from the pier; and 
thus it happened that Rollo and Jennie set out 
on the voyage to Europe, without having any 
one to take them in charge. 


38 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


CHAPTER III. 

DEPARTURE. 

The moving away of the steamer from the 
pier had the effect of producing a striking illus¬ 
ion in Jane’s mind. 

“Why, Rollo!’’ she exclaimed, looking up to 
Rollo, quite alarmed, “the pier is sailing away 
from us, and all the people on it.” 

“O, no,” said Rollo, “the pier is not sailing 
away. We are sailing away ourselves.” 

Jane gazed upon the receding shore with a 
look of bewildered astonishment. Then she 
added in a very sorrowful and desponding tone: 

“O, Rollo! you told me that uncle George 
would certainly come back; and now he is not 
coming back at all.” 

“Well, I really thought he would come 
back,” said Rollo. “But never mind, Jennie, 
we shall get along very well. We shall not 
have to get out of this ship at all till we get to 
Liverpool; and we shall find father at Liver¬ 
pool. He will come on board for us at Liver¬ 
pool, I am sure, before we land; and mother, 
too, I dare say. Just think of that, Jennie! 
Just think of that!” 

This anticipation would doubtless have had 
considerable influence in calming Jennie’s 
mind, if she had had any opportunity to dwell 



ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


39 


upon it; but her thoughts were immediately 
diverted to the spectacle which was exhibiting 
itself on the pier. The great throng of people 
which had assembled there seemed to be press¬ 
ing on toward the end of the pier, accompany¬ 
ing the ship, as it were, in its motion, as it 
glided smoothly away. As they thus crowded 
forward, all those who had opportunity to do 
so climbed up upon boxes and bales of mer- 
chadise, or on heaps of wood or coal, or on 
posts or beams of wood, wherever they could 
find any position which would raise them above 
the general level of the crowd. This scene, 
of course, strongly attracted the attention both 
of Rollo and of Jane. 

And here it must be remarked, that there 
are three distinct scenes of bidding farewell 
that an Atlantic steamer passes through in put¬ 
ting to sea. In the first place, the individual 
voyagers take leave of their several friends, by 
words of good-by and other personal greetings, 
on the decks and in the cabins of the ship, be¬ 
fore she leaves the pier. Then, secondly, the 
company of passengers, as a whole, give a 
good-by to the whole company of visitors, who 
have come to see the ship sail, and who remain 
standing on the pier as the vessel goes away. 
This second good-by cannot be given by words, 
for the distance is too great to allow of words 
being used. So they give it by huzzas, and 
by the waving of hats and handkerchiefs. 

This second farewell was now about to be 
given. The gentlemen on the pier took off 
their hats, and, waving them in the air, 


40 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


shouted hurrah in concert, three times, with 
great energy. The company of passengers on 
board the ship then responded, by shouting 
and waving their hats in return. The ladies, 
both on the pier and in the ship, performed 
their part in this ceremony by waving their 
handkerchiefs and clapping their hands. By 
this time the steamer, which had been rapidly 
increasing the speed of its motion all the 
while, was now getting quite out into the 
stream, arid was turning rapidly down the 
river. This change in the direction in which 
the steamer was going carried the pier and all 
the people that were upon it entirely out of the 
children’s view, and they saw themselves glid¬ 
ing rapidly along the shore of the river, which 
was formed of a long line of piers, with for¬ 
ests of masts surmounting them, and long ranges 
of stores and' warehouses beyond. Nearer to 
the steamer on the water of the river, and on 
either had, were to be seen sloops, ships, ferry 
boats, scows and every other species of water 
craft, gliding to and fro in all directions. 
While gazing with great interest on this scene 
as the steamer moved along, Jane was suddenly 
sartled and terrified at the sound of a heavy 
gun, which seemed to be fired close to her ear. 
It was soon evident that the gun had been fired 
from on board the steamer, for a great puff of 
smoke rose up into the air from the bows of 
the vessel, and slowty floated away. Immedi¬ 
ately afterward another gun was fired, louder 
than the first. 

I have said that there were three farewells. 




Stood upon the top of one of the paddle boxes.”—Page 44. 

Rollo on the Atlantic. 















































































































ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


41 


The first is that of the individual passengers 
to their individual friends. The second is that 
of the whole company of passengers to the 
company of spectators on the pier. The third 
is the ship’s farewell to the city. Of course, 
for a ship to speak to a city, a very loud voice 
is required. So they provide her with a gun. 
In fact, a great steamer proceeding to sea may 
be considered as, in some respects, like a 
mighty animal. The engine is its heart; the 
paddle wheels are its limbs; the guns are its 
voice; the captain is its head; and, finally, 
there is a man always stationed on the lookout 
in the extreme forward part of the ship, who 
serves the monster for eyes. Jane was quite 
terrified at the sound of the guns. 

“O, Rollo!” exclaimed she, “I wish they 
would not fire any more of those dreadful 
guns.” 

“I don’t think they will fire any more,’ said 
Rollo. ‘‘In fact, I am sure they will not, for 
they have fired two now, and they never fire 
more than two.” 

Rollo was mistaken in this calculation, 
though he was right in the general principle 
that the number of guns usually discharged 
by a steamer going to sea, as its parting 
salute, is two. In this case, however, the 
steamer, in passing on down the river, came 
opposite to a place in Jersey City, where a 
steamer of another line was lying moored to 
her pier, waiting for her own sailing day. 
Now, as the Pacfiic passed by this other steam¬ 
er, the men on board of the latter, having pre- 


42 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


viously made everything ready for the cere¬ 
mony, fired two guns as a salute to her, by way 
of bidding her farewell and wishing her a good 
voyage. Of course, it was proper to respond 
to the compliment, and this called for two guns 
more. This made, in fact, a fourth farewell, 
which having been spoken, the firing was over. 
The Pacific, having thus taken leave of the 
city, and also of her sister steamer on the Jer¬ 
sey shore, had now nothing to do but to pro¬ 
ceed as fast as possible down the harbor and 
out to sea. 

The scenes which are presented to view on 
every hand in passing down New York Harbor 
and Bay are very magnificent and imposing. 
Ships, steamers, long ferry boats, tugs, sloops, 
sail boats, and every other species of water 
craft, from the little skiff that bobs up and 
down over the waves made by the steamboat 
swell to the man-of-war riding proudly at an¬ 
chor in the stream, are seen on every hand. 
The shores, too, present enchanting pictures 
of rich and romantic beauty. There are villas 
and cottages, and smooth grassy lawns, and 
vast fortifications, and observatories, and light¬ 
houses, and buoys, and a great many other 
objects, which strongly attract the attention 
and excite the curiosity of the voyager, espe¬ 
cially if he has been previously accustomed only 
to traveling on land. 

While the children were looking at these 
scenes with wonder and admiration, as the 
ship passed down the harbor, a young-looking 
man who appeared to belong to the ship, came 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


43 


to them and told them that if they wished to 
remain on deck, they had better go and sit 
upon the settees. So saying, he pointed to 
several large and heavy-looking settees, which 
were placed near the middle of the deck, 
around what seemed to be a sort of skylight. 
These settees were all firmly secured to their 
places with strong cords, by means of which 
they were tied by the legs to some of the fix¬ 
tures of the skylights. In obedience to this 
suggestion, the children went and took their 
places upon a settee. Jane carried the cage, 
containing Tiger, which she had kept carefully 
with her thus far, and put it down upon the 
settee by her side. The man who had directed 
the children to this place, and who was a sort 
of mate, as they call such officers at sea, looked 
at the kitten with an expression of contempt 
upon his countenance, but said nothing. He 
took the camp stools which the children had 
left, and carried them away. 

“I am sure I don’t know what we are to do 
next,” said Jane, mournfully, after sitting for 
a moment in silence. 

“Nor I,’’ rejoined Rollo, “and so I am going 
to follow uncle George’s rules.’’ 

Mr. George had given Rollo these rules, as a 
sort of universal direction for young persons 
when traveling alone: 

1. Do as you see other people do. 

2. When you cannot find out in this or in 
any other way what to do, do nothing. 

In accordance with this advice, Rollo con¬ 
cluded to sit still upon the settee, where the 


44 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


ship’s officer had placed him, and do nothing. 
In the meantime, however, he amused himself 
in watching the ships and steamers which he 
saw sailing to and fro about the harbor, and in 
pointing out to Jane all the remarkable objects 
which he observed from time, to time along the 
shores. 

Among other things which attracted his at¬ 
tention, he noticed and watched the movements 
of a man who stood upon the top of one of the 
paddle boxes on the side of the ship, where he 
walked to and fro very busily, holding a speak¬ 
ing trumpet all the time in his hand. Every 
now and then, he would call out, in a loud 
voice, a certain word. Sometimes it was port, 
sometimes it was starboard, and sometimes it 
was steady. Rollo observed that it was always 
one or the other of those three words. And 
what was still more curious, Rollo observed 
that, whenever the man on the paddle box 
called out the word, the officer on the deck, 
who kept walking about there all the time to 
and fro, would immediately repeat it after him, 
in a loud but in a somewhat singular tone. 
While he was wondering what this could mean, 
a gentleman, who seemed to be one of the pas¬ 
sengers, came and sat down on the settee close 
by his side. Rollo had a great mind to ask 
him who the man on the paddle box was. 

“Well, my boy,” said the gentleman, “you 
are rather young to go to sea. How do you 
like it?” 

“Pretty well, sir,” said Rollo. 

“We are going out in fine style,” said the 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


45 


gentleman. “We shall soon be done with the 
pilot.” 

“The pilot?” said Rollo, inquiringly. 

“Yes,” said the gentleman. “There he is, 
on the paddle box. ” 

“Is that the pilot?” asked Rollo. “I thought 
the pilot was the man who steered.” 

“No,” replied the gentleman, “he is the 
man who gives directions how to steer. He 
does not steer himself. The man who steers 
is called the helmsman. There he is.” 

So saying, the gentleman pointed toward the 
stern of the ship where there was a sort of plat¬ 
form raised a little above the deck, with a row 
of panes of glass, like a long narrow window, 
in front of it. Through this window Rollo 
could see the head of a man. The man was 
standing in a recess which contained the wheel 
by means of which the ship was steered. 

“The pilot keeps a lookout on the paddle 
box,” continued the gentleman, “watching the 
changes in the channel, and also the move¬ 
ments of the vessels which are coming and go¬ 
ing. When he wishes the helm to be put to 
the right, he calls out Starboard! ' When he 
wishes it to be put to the left, he calls out Port! 
And when he wishes the ship to go straight 
forward as she is, he calls out Steady!” 

Just then the pilot, from his lofty lookout on 
the paddle box, called out, “Port!” 

The officer on the deck repeated the com¬ 
mand, in order to pass it along to the helms¬ 
man, “Port!” 

The helmsman then repeated it again, by 



4G 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


way of making it sure to the officer that he 
had heard it and was obeying it, “Port!” 

There were two or three dashing-looking 
young men walking together up and down the 
deck, and one of them, on hearing these com¬ 
mands, called out, not very loud, but still in 
such a manner as that all around him could 
hear, and imitating precisely the tones in 
which the pilot’s order had been given, 
“Sherry!” 

Whereupon there was a great laugh among 
all the passengers around. Even the stern and 
morose-looking countenance of the officer re¬ 
laxed into a momentary smile. 

“Now look forward at the bows of the ship, ” 
said the gentleman, “and you will see her 
change her course in obedience to the command 
of the pilot to port the helm. ” 

Rollo did so, and observed the effect with 
great curiosity and pleasure. 

“I thought the captain gave orders how to 
steer the ship,” said Rollo. 

“He does,” said the gentleman, “after we 
get fairly clear of the land. It is the captain’s 
business to navigate the ship across the ocean, 
but he has nothing to do with directing her 
when she is going in and out of the harbor.” 
The gentleman then went on to explain that at 
the entrances of all rivers and harbors there 
were usually rocks, shoals, sand bars, and 
other obstructions, some of which were contin¬ 
ually shifting their position and character, 
and making it necessary that they should be 
studied and known thoroughly by some one 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


47 


who is all the time upon the spot. The men 
who do his are called pilots. The pilots of 
each port form a company, and have estab¬ 
lished rules and regulations for governing all 
their proceedings. They go out to the mouth 
of the harbor in small vessels called pilot 
boats, where they wait, both in sunshine and 
storm, for ships to come in. When a ship 
approaches the coast and sees one of these pilot 
boats, it makes a signal for a pilot to come on 
board. The pilot boat then sails toward the 
ship, and when they get near enough they let 
down a small boat, and row one of the pilots 
on board the vessel, and he guides the ship in. 
In the same manner, in going out of port, the 
pilot guides the ship until they get out into 
deep water, and then a pilot boat comes up 
and takes him off the ship. The ship then 
proceeds to sea, while the pilot boat continues 
to sail to and fro about the mouth of the har¬ 
bor, till another ship appears. 

“And will this pilot get into a pilot boat and 
go back to New York?” asked Rollo. 

“Yes,” replied the gentleman, “and the 
passengers can send letters back by him, if 
they wish. They often do.” 

“And can I?” asked Rollo. 

“Yes,” replied the gentleman. “Write your 
letter, and I will give it to him. ” 

Rollo had a small inkstand in his pocket, 
and also a pocketbook with note papers folded 
up, and envelopes in it. This was an appar¬ 
atus that he always carried with him when he 
traveled. He took out one of his sheets of 


48 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


note paper, and wrote upon it the following 
letter:— 

Dear Uncle George: 

This is to inform you that we have found a 
good seat, and are getting along very well. 

Your affectionate nephew, 

R. Holiday. 

Rollo made his letter shorter than he other¬ 
wise would have done, on account of having 
been informed by the gentleman, when he had 
just written the first line, that the pilot boat 
was coming in sight. So he finished his writ¬ 
ing, and then folded his note and put it in its 
envelope. He sealed the envelope with a 
wafer, which he took out of a compartment of 
his pocketbook. He then addressed it to his 
uncle George in a proper manner, and it was 
all ready. The gentleman then took it and 
carried it to the pilot, who was just then com¬ 
ing down from the paddle box and putting on 
his coat. 

By this time the pilot boat had come pretty 
near to the ship, and was lying there upon the 
water at rest, with her sails flapping in the 
wind. The engine of the ship was stopped. 
A small boat was then seen coming from the 
pilot boat toward the ship. The boat was 
tossed fearfully by the waves as the oarsmen 
rowed it along. When it came to the side of 
the ship a sailor threw a rope to it, and it was 
held fast by means of the rope until the pilot 
got on board. The rope was then cast off, and 
the boat moved away. The engine was now 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


49 


put in motion again, and the great paddle 
wheels of the ship began to revolve as before. 
Rollo watched the little boat as it went bound¬ 
ing over the waves, afraid all the time that it 
would be upset, in which case his letter would 
be lost. At length, however, he had the satis¬ 
faction of seeing the skiff safely reach the pilot 
boat, and all the men climb up safely on 
board. 

“There!” exclaimed Rollo, in a tone of great 
satisfaction, “now he will go up to the city 
safe, and I am very glad he has got that letter 
for uncle George.” 

In the meantime the captain mounted the 
paddle box where the pilot had stood, and, 
with his speaking trumpet in his hand, began 
to give the necessary orders for the vigorous 
prosecution of the voyage. The sails were 
spread, the engines were put into full opera¬ 
tion, the helmsman was directediwhat course to 
steer, and the ship pressed gallantly forward 
out into the open sea. 


4 Atlantic 


50 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


CHAPTER IV. 

GETTING SETTLED. 

The gentleman who had so kindly explained 
the pilot system to Rollo did not return to the 
settee after having given the pilot the letter, 
but went away, and for a few minutes Rollo 
and Jane were left alone. They observed, 
too, that a great many of the passengers had 
disappeared, and now there were very few 
about the deck. Rollo wondered where they 
had gone. He soon received some light on 
the subject, by overhearing one gentleman say 
to another, as they passed the settee on their 
promenade,'— 

“Come, Charley, let us go down and get 
some lunch. ” 

4 ‘ They are going to lunch,'’ said Rollo. “We 
will go, too. I am beginning to be hungry.” 

“So am I hungry,” said Jane. “I did not 
think of it before; but I am, and I have no 
doubt that Tiger is hungry, too.” 

So Jane took up her cage, and then she and 
Rollo, walking along together, followed the 
gentlemen who had said that they were going 
down to lunch. They walked forward upon 
the promenade deck till they came to the 
short flight of stairs, with the green rope bal¬ 
ustrade, which led down to the deck below. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


51 


These stairs were so steep that the children 
were obliged to proceed with great caution in 
descending them, in order to get down in 
safety. They, however, at length succeeded; 
and then, passing along where they saw that 
the gentlemen went who preceded them, they 
entered into a long and narrow passage way, 
with doors leading to state rooms on either 
hand. Following this passage way, they came 
at length to a sort of entry or hall, which was 
lighted by a skylight above. In the middle 
of this hall, and under the skylight, was a 
pretty broad staircase, leading down to some 
lower portion of the ship. As the men whom 
they were following went down these stairs, 
the children went down, too. When they got 
down, they found themselves in a perfect maze 
of cabins, state rooms, and passage ways, the 
openings into which were infinitely multiplied 
by the large and splendid mirrors with which 
the walls were everywhere adorned. 

“Put Tiger down there,” said Rollo, point¬ 
ing to a place near the end of the sofa, “and 
we will bring her something to eat when we 
come from lunch.” 

Jane was very anxious to take the kitten 
with her; but she knew that, under the cir¬ 
cumstances in which she was placed, it was 
proper that she should follow implicitly all of 
Rollo’s directions. So she put the cage down, 
and then she and Rollo went on together 
through a door where the gentlemen who had 
preceded them had gone. 

They found themselves in another long and 


52 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


narrow passage way, which led toward the for¬ 
ward part of the ship. The passage way was 
so narrow that they could not walk together. 
So Rollo went first, and Jane came behind. 
The vessel was rocking gently from the motion 
of the waves, and Jane had to put her hands 
out once or twice, first to one side and then to 
the other of the passage way, in order to 
steady herself as she passed along. Presently 
they came to a place where they had to go up 
five or six steps, and then to go immediately 
down again. It was the place where the main 
shaft passed out from the engine to the paddle 
wheel. After getting over this obstruction, 
they went on a little farther, and then came 
into a large dining saloon, where several long 
tables were spread, and a great many passen¬ 
gers were seated, eating their luncheons. 

There were a number of waiters in different 
parts of the room, standing behind the guests 
at the tables; and one of these waiters, as 
soon as he saw Rollo and Jane come in, went 
to them, and said that he would show them 
where to sit. So they followed him, and he 
gave them a good seat at one of the tables. 
As soon as the children were seated, the waiter 
said, addressing Rollo: 

“Will you have soup?” 

“Yes,” said Rollo. 

“And will the young lady take soup, too?” 
he asked again. 

“Yes,” said Rollo; “both of us.” 

While the waiter was gone to get the soup, 
Rollo and Jane had an opportunity of looking 



ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


53 


around the room and observing - how very 
different it was in its fixtures and furniture 
from a dining-room on land. Instead of win¬ 
dows, there were only round holes in the sides 
of the ship, about a foot in diameter. For a 
sash, there was only one round and exceed¬ 
ingly thick and strong pane of glass, set in an 
iron frame, and opening inward, on massive 
hinges. On the side of this frame, opposite 
the hinges, was a strong clamp and screw, by 
means of which the frame could be screwed 
up very tight, in order to exclude the water 
in case of heavy seas. The tables were fitted 
with a ledge all around the outside, to keep 
the dishes from sliding off. Above each table, 
and suspended from the ceiling, was a long 
shelf of beautiful wood, with racks and sockets 
in it of every kind, for containing wine¬ 
glasses, tumblers, decanters, and such other 
things as would be wanted from time to time 
upon the table. Every one of these glasses 
was in a place upon the shelf expressly fitted 
to receive and retain it; so that it might be 
held securely, and not allowed to fall, how¬ 
ever great might be the motion of the ship. 

There were no chairs at the tables. The 
seats consisted of handsomely cushioned set¬ 
tees, with substantial backs to them. It was 
upon one of these settees, and near the end of 
it, that Rollo and Jane were seated. 

When the soup was brought, the children 
ate it with great satisfaction. They found it 
excellent; and, besides that, they had excel¬ 
lent appetites. After the soup, the waiter 


54 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


brought them some roasted potatoes and but¬ 
ter, and also some slices of cold roast beef. 
When the roast beef came, Jane exclaimed to 
Rollo: 

“Ah! I am very glad to see that. It is just 
the thing for Tiger. ” 

Then she turned round and said to the 
waiter: 

“Can I take a piece of this meat to give to 
my kitten?’’ 

“Your kitten?” said the waiter. “Have you 
got a kitten on board?” 

“Yes,” said Jane. 

“Where is she?” asked the waiter. 

“I left her in the cabin,” said Jane, “by the 
end of a sofa. She is in her cage.” 

The waiter smiled to hear this statement. 
Jane had been, in fact, a little afraid to ask for 
meat for her kitten, supposing it possible that 
the waiter might think that she ought not to 
have brought a kitten on board. But the truth 
was, the waiter was very glad to hear of it. 
He was glad for two reasons. In the first 
place, the monotony and dullness of sea life 
are so great, that those who live in ships are 
usually glad to have anything occur that is 
extraordinary or novel. Then, besides, he 
knew that it was customary with passengers, 
when they gave the waiters any unusual 
trouble, to compensate them for it fully when 
they reached the end of the voyage; and he 
presumed, therefore, that if he had a kitten 
to take care of, as well as the children them¬ 
selves, their father, whom he had no doubt 



ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


55 


was on board, would remember it in his fee. 
So, when Jane told him where the kitten was, 
he said he would go and bring her out into the 
dining saloon, and give her some of the 
meat there, as soon as the passengers had 
finished their luncheon, so that he could be 
spared from the table. 

Accordingly, when the proper time arrived, 
the waiter went aft, to the cabin, and very 
soon returned, bringing the cage with him. 

He seemed quite pleased with his charge; 
and several of the passengers, who met him 
as they were going out of the saloon, stopped 
a moment to see what he had got in the cage, 
and Jane was much gratified at hearing one of 
them say: 

“What a pretty kitten! Whose is it, wait¬ 
er?” 

The waiter put the cage down upon a side 
table, and then carried a plate of meat to the 
place, and put it in the cage. Jane and Rollo 
went to see. While the kitten was eating her 
meat, the waiter said that he would go and get 
some milk for her. He accordingly went away 
again; but he soon returned, bringing a little 
milk with him in a saucer. The kitten, having 
by this time finished eating her meat, set her¬ 
self eagerly at the work of lapping up the 
milk, which she did with an air of great satis¬ 
faction. 

“There!” said the waiter, “bring her out 
here whenever she is hungry, and I will alwa)^s 
have something for her. When you come at 
meal times, you will see me at the table. If 


56 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


you come at any other time, and you don’t see 
me, ask for Alfred. My name is Alfred. ” 

Jane and Rollo both said to Alfred that they 
were very much obliged to him, and then, 
observing that nearly all the passengers had 
left the dining saloon and had returned to the 
cabin, they determined to go, too. So they 
went back through the same passageway by 
which they had come. 

There were two principal cabins in the ship, 
the ladies’ cabin and the gentlemen’s cabin. 
The ladies’ cabin was nearest to the dining 
saloon, the gentlemen’s cabin being beyond. 
A number of ladies and gentlemen turned into 
the ladies’ cabin, and so Rollo and Jane fol¬ 
lowed them. They found themselves, when 
they had entered, in quite a considerable apart¬ 
ment, with sofas and mirrors all around the 
sides of it, and a great deal of rich carving in 
the panels and ceiling. Several splendid 
lamps, too, were suspended in different places, 
so hung that they could move freely in every 
direction, when the ship was rolling from 
side to side in rough seas. Rollo and Jane 
took their seats upon one of the sofas. 

“Well, Rollo,’’ said Jane, “I don’t know 
what we are going to do next. ’’ 

“Nor I,’’ said Rollo; “but we can sit here a 
little while, and perhaps somebody will come 
and speak to us. It must be right for us to sit 
here, for other ladies and gentlemen are sit¬ 
ting in this cabin. ’’ 

Jane looked about the cabin on the different 
sofas to see if there were any persons there 




ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


57 


that she had ever seen before. But there 
were none. 

Among the persons in the cabin, there were 
two who particularly attracted Jane’s attention. 
They were young ladies of, perhaps, eighteen 
or twenty years of age, but they were remark¬ 
ably different from each other in appearance. 
One was very beautiful, indeed. Her hair was- 
elegantly arranged in curls upon her neck, and 
she was dressed quite fashionably. Her coun¬ 
tenance, too, beamed with an expression of 
animation and happiness. 

The other young lady, who sat upon the 
other end of the same sofa, was very plain in 
her appearance, and was plainly dressed. Her 
countenance, too, had a sober and thoughtful 
expression which was almost stern, and made 
Jane feel quite disposed to be afraid of her. 
The beautiful girl she liked very much. 

While the children were sitting thus upon 
the sofa, waiting to see what was next going 
to happen to them, several persons passed 
along that way, taking a greater or less degree 
of notice of them as they passed. Some 
merely stared at them, as if wondering how 
they came there, and what they were doing. 
One lady looked kindly at them, but did not 
speak. Another lady, apparently about forty 
years of age, walked by them with a haughty 
air, talking all the time with a gentleman who 
was with her. Jane heard her say to the gen¬ 
tleman, as soon as she had passed them: 

“What a quantity of children we have on 


58 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


board this ship! I hate children on board 
ship, they are so noisy and troublesome.” 

Jane did not say anything in reply to this, 
but she thought that she and Rollo, at least, 
did not deserve such censures, for they had 
certainly not been noisy or troublesome. 

Presently Jane saw the beautiful girl, who 
has been already spoken of, rise and come 
toward them. She was very glad to see this, 
for now, thought she, we have a friend com¬ 
ing. The young lady came walking along 
carelessly toward them, and when she came 
near she looked at them a moment, and then 
said, in a pert and forward manner: 

“What are you sitting here for, children, so 
long, all alone? Where is your father?” 

“My father is in Liverpool, I suppose,” said 
Rollo.' 

“Well, your mother, then,” said the young 
lady, “or whoever has the care of you?” 

“My mother is in Liverpool, too,” said 
Rollo, “and there is nobody who has the care 
of us on board this ship.” 

“Why, you are not going to cross the Atlan¬ 
tic all by yourselves, are you?” said the young 
lady, in a tone of great astonishment. 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “unless we find some¬ 
body to be kind enough to help us.” 

“La! how queer!” said the young lady. “I 
am sure I’m glad enough that I am not in 
your places. ’ ’ 

So saying, the beautiful young lady walked 
on. 

All the beauty, however, which she had be- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


59 


fore possessed in Jane’s eyes, was entirely dis¬ 
sipated by this heartless behavior. Both Jane 
and Rollo, for all the rest of the voyage, 
thought her one of the ugliest girls they had 
ever seen. 

It was some minutes after this before any 
other person approached the children. Jane 
observed, however, that the other young lady 
—the one who had appeared to her so plain— 
looked frequently toward her and Rollo, with 
an expression of interest and kindness upon 
her countenance. At length she rose from her 
seat, and came across the cabin, and sat down 
by Jane’s side. 

“May I come and sit by you?’’ said she to 
Jane. “You seem to be all alone.’’ 

“Yes,” said Jane; “we don’t know anybody 
in this ship. ’’ 

“Not anybody?’’ said the young lady. 
“Then you may know me. My name is Maria. 
But your father and mother are on board the 
ship, are they not?” 

“No,’’ said Rollo. “There is not anybody 
on board this ship that belongs to us.’’ 

Maria seemed very much astonished at hear¬ 
ing this, and she asked the children how it hap¬ 
pened that they were sent across the Atlantic 
alone. Upon which Rollo, in a very clear and 
lucid manner, explained all the circumstances 
of the case to her. He told her about his 
father being sick in England, and about his 
having sent for him and Jane to go to England 
and meet him there. He also explained what 
Mr. George’s plan had been for providing them 


60 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


with a protector on the voyage, and how it 
had been defeated by the accident of the loss 
of the trunk. He also told her how narrowly 
they had escaped having the trunk itself left 
behind. He ended by saying that there were 
several of his father’s friends on board, only 
he did not know of any way by which he could 
find out who they were. 

“Never mind that,’’ said Maria. “I will 
take care of you. You need not be at all 
afraid; you will get along very well. Have 
you got any stateroom?’’ 

“No,’’ said Rollo. 

“Well, I will go and find the chambermaid, 
and she will get you one. Then we will have 
your trunk sent to it, and you will feel quite 
at home there.’’ 

So Maria went away, and presently returned 
with one of the chambermaids. 

When the chambermaid learned that there 
were two children on board without any one 
to take care of them, she was very much inter¬ 
ested in their case. Rollo heard her say to 
Maria, as they came up together toward the 
sofa where the children were sitting: 

“O, yes, I will find them a stateroom, if 
they have not got one already. Children,’’ 
she added, when she came near, “are you sure 
you have not got any stateroom?’’ 

“Yes,’’ said Rollo. “I did not know where 
the captain’s office was.’’ 

“O, you don’t go to the captain’s office,’’ 
said the chambermaid. “They pay for the pas¬ 
sage and get the tickets in Wall Street.’’ 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


€1 


“Perhaps this is it, then,” said Rollo. And 
so saying, he took out his wallet, and there, 
from one of the inner compartments, where 
his uncle George had placed it away very care¬ 
fully, he produced a paper. The chambermaid 
opened it, saying, “Yes, this is all right. 
Berths sixteen and eighteen. Come with me, 
and I’ll show you where they are. ” 

So the two children, accompanied by Maria, 
followed the chambermaid, who led the way 
across the cabin, and there, entering a passage¬ 
way, she opened a door, by means of a beauti¬ 
ful porcelain knob which was upon it. They 
all went in. They found themselves in a small 
room, no bigger than a large closet, but they 
saw at a glance that it was very beautifully 
finished and furnished. On the front side was 
a round window like those they had seen in 
the dining saloon. Under this window was a 
couch, with a pillow at the head of it. Qn the 
back side were two berths, one above the other, 
with very pretty curtains before them. 

“There!” said the chambermaid, “sixteen. 
That lower berth is yours.” 

“And whose is the upper berth?” asked 
Maria. 

“That is not taken, I think,” said the cham¬ 
bermaid. 

“Then I will take it,” said Maria. “I will 
come into this stateroom, and then I can look 
after Jennie all the time. But where is Rollo’s 
berth?” 

“In the next stateroom,” said the chamber¬ 
maid. 


62 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


So saying, she opened a door in the end of 
the room, and found another stateroom com¬ 
municating with the first, where she pointed 
out Rollo’s berth. There was another entrance 
to Rollo’s stateroom from the passage leading 
into the cabin, on the farther side of it. 

“There,” said the chambermaid, “now you 
can settle yourselves here as soon as you 
please. Nobody can come in here to trouble 
you, for you have these little rooms all to your¬ 
selves. I’ll go and find a porter, and get him 
to look up your trunk and send it in. ’’ 

So Rollo went into his stateroom, and Jane 
sat down upon the couch in hers, by the side 
of Maria, looking very much pleased. She 
opened the door of the cage, and let the kitten 
out. The kitten walked all about the room, 
examining everything with great attention 
She jumped up upon the marble washstand, 
and from that she contrived to get into the 
round window, where she stood for a few min¬ 
utes looking out very attentively over the wide 
sea. Not knowing, however, what to make of 
so extraordinary a prospect, she presently 
jumped down again, and, selecting a smooth 
place at the foot of the couch, she curled her¬ 
self up into a ring upon the soft covering of it, 
and went to sleep. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


63 


CHAPTER V. 

ON DECK. 

As soon as Rollo and Jane found themselves 
thus established in their staterooms, they be¬ 
gan to examine the furniture and fixtures 
around them with great curiosity. They were 
particularly interested in observing the pre¬ 
cautions which had been taken in securing 
everything which the staterooms contained, 
from the danger of being thrown about by the 
motion of the ship. The wash basin was made 
of marble, and was firmly set in its place, so as 
to be absolutely immovable. There was a hole 
in the bottom of it, with a plug in it, so that, by 
drawing out the plug, the water could be let 
off into a pipe which conveyed it away. There 
was a small chain attached to this plug, by 
means of which it could be drawn up when 
any one wished to let the water off. The 
pitcher was made broad and flat at the bottom, 
and very heavy, so that it could not be easily 
upset; and then there was a socket for it in the 
lower part of the washstand, which confined it 
effectually, and prevented its sliding about 
when the ship was rolling in a heavy sea. 

The tumbler was secured in a more curious 
manner still. It was placed in a brass ring, 
which projected from the wall in a corner over 


64 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


the washstand, and which was made just large 
enough to receive it. The soap dish and the 
brush tray were also placed in sockets cut to 
receive them in the marble slab, which formed 
the upper part of the washstand. The looking- 
glass was round, and was screwed to the wall 
by means of a stem and a ball or socket joint, 
in such a manner that it could be set in any 
position required, according to the height of 
the observer, and yet it could not by any pos¬ 
sibility fall from its place. There were very 
few pegs or pins for hanging clothes upon, be¬ 
cause, when clothes are thus hung, they are 
found to swing back and forth whenever the 
ship is rolling in a heavy sea, in a manner that 
is very tiresome and disagreeable for sick pas¬ 
sengers to see. Nor were there many shelves 
about the stateroom; for if there had been, the 
passengers would be likely to put various arti¬ 
cles upon them when the sea was smooth; and 
then, when the ship came to pitch and roll in 
gales of wind, the things would all slide off 
upon the floor. So instead of shelves there 
were pockets made of canvas or duck, several 
together, one above another. These pockets 
formed very convenient receptacles for such 
loose articles as the passengers might have in 
their staterooms, and were, of course, per¬ 
fectly secure. 

There were two shelves, it is true, in Jen¬ 
nie’s stateroom—one over each of the two 
washstands—but they were protected by a 
ledge about the edges of them, which would 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


65 


effectually prevent such things as might be 
placed upon them from sliding off. 

By the time that Rollo and Jane had exam¬ 
ined these things, a porter came into the state¬ 
room, bringing their trunk upon his shoulder. 
Maria told the children that they had better 
open the trunk and take out all that they would 
be likely to require while on board, and then 
stow the trunk itself away under the lower 
berth, in one of the staterooms. 

“Because,” said she, “as soon as we get out 
upon the heavy seas we shall all be sick, and 
then we shall not wish to move to do the least 
thing. ’ ’ 

“When will that be?” asked Jane. 

“I don’t know,” replied Maria. “Sometimes 
we have it smooth for a good many days, and 
then there comes a head wind and makes it 
rough, and all the passengers get sick and very 
wretched.” 

“I don’t think that I shall be sick,” said 
Rollo. 

“You can’t tell,” said Maria. “Nobody can 
tell anything about it beforehand. ’ ’ 

In obedience to Maria’s directions, Rollo 
opened the trunk and took out from it all the 
clothing, both for day and night, which he 
thought that he and Jennie would require dur¬ 
ing the voyage. The night dresses he put un¬ 
der the pillows in the berths. The cloaks, and 
coats, and shawls which might be required on 
deck in the day he placed on the couches. 
Those which belonged to him he put in his 
stateroom, and those that belonged to Jennie 

5 Atlantic 


66 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


in hers. While engaged in these operations, 
he pulled up from one of the lower corners of 
his trunk a small leather purse or bag full of 
money. 

“What shall I do with this?” he asked, hold¬ 
ing it up to Maria. 

“What is it?” asked Maria. 

“Mone3%“ said Rollo. 

“How much is there?” said Maria. 

“I don’t know,” replied Rollo. “Uncle 
George put it in here. He said I ought to 
have some money to carry with me, in case of 
accidents. I don’t suppose it is much.” 

“You had better count it, then,” said Maria, 
“so as to ascertain how much it is. You and 
Jane may count it together.” 

So Rollo and Jane sat down upon the couch, 
and Rollo poured out the money into Jennie’s 
lap. It was all gold. Maria said that the coins 
were sovereigns and half sovereigns. The 
large ones were sovereigns, and the small ones 
were half sovereigns. Rollo proposed that he 
should count the sovereigns, and that Jennie 
might count the half sovereigns. It proved, 
when the counting was completed, that there 
were thirty sovereigns and twenty half sover¬ 
eigns. 

“That makes forty sovereigns in all,” said 
Maria. “That is a great deal of money.” 

“How much is it?” asked Rollo. 

“Why, in American money,” said Maria, “it 
makes about two hundred dollars.” 

“Two hundred dollars!” repeated Rollo, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


67 


with astonishment. “What could uncle George 
think I could want of all this money?” 

“It was in case of accidents,” said Maria. 
“For example, suppose this ship should be 
cast away on the coast of Nova Scotia, and all 
the passengers and baggage be saved, what 
could you do there without any money?” 

“Why, I should think that somebody there 
would take care of us,” replied Rollo. 

“Yes,” said Maria, “I suppose they would; 
but it is a great deal better to have money of 
your own. Besides, suppose that when you 
get to Liverpool, for some reason or other, 
your father should not be there. Then, hav¬ 
ing plenty of money, you could go to a hotel 
and stay there till your father comes. Or you 
could ask some one of the passengers who is 
going to London to let you go with him, and 
you could tell him that you had plenty of 
money to pay the expenses.” 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “though I don’t think 
there is any doubt that my father will be in 
Liverpool when we arrive.” 

“I hope he will be, I am sure,” said Maria. 
“But now, put up the money again in the purse, 
tie it up securely, and replace it in the trunk. 
Then you must keep the trunk locked all the 
time and keep the key in your pocket.” 

Rollo felt quite proud of being intrusted 
with so much money; so he replaced the bag in 
the trunk with great care, and locked it safely. 

“Now,” said Maria, “this is your home 
while you are on board this ship. When you 
choose, you can come here and be alone; and 


68 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


you can lie down and rest here whenever you 
are tired. At other times you can ramble 
about the ship, in all proper places. * * 

“How shall I know what the proper places 
are?” asked Rollo. 

“Why, you will see where the other passen¬ 
gers go,” replied Maria; “and wherever you 
see them go, you can go yourself. That is as 
good a rule as you can have. ” 

“Well,” said Rollo, “and now, Jane, let us 
go up on deck and see what we can see.” 

Jane was pleased with this proposal; so she 
followed Rollo to the deck. Maria said that 
she would come by-and-by, but for the present 
she wished to go and see her brother. She 
said that she had a brother on board who was 
quite out of health. He was going to Europe 
in hopes that the voyage would restore him. 
At present, however, he was very unwell, and 
was confined to his berth, and she must go and 
see him. 

So Rollo and Jane went to see if they could 
find their way up on deck alone. Rollo went 
before, and Jane followed. They ascended 
the steep stairs where they had gone up at 
first, and then walked aft upon the deck until 
they came to the settees where they had been 
sitting before the luncheon. They sat down 
upon one of these settees, where they had a 
fine view, not only of the wide expanse of sea 
on every hand, but also of the whole extent of 
the decks of the ship. They remained here 
nearly two hours, ooserving what was going 
on around them, and they saw a great many 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


69 


things that interested them very much, indeed. 
The first thing that attracted their attention 
was the sound of a bell, which struck four 
strokes very distinctly, and in a very peculiar 
manner, near where the helmsman stood in 
steering the ship. This bell has already been 
mentioned. It hung directly before the helms¬ 
man's window, and it had a short rope attached 
to the clapper of it. The helsman, or the man 
at the wheel, as he is sometimes called, from 
the fact that he steers the ship by means of a 
wheel, with handles all around the periphery 
of it, had opened his widow just after Rollo 
and Jane had taken their seats, and had pulled 
this clapper so as to strike four strokes upon 
the bell, the strokes being in pairs, thus: 

Ding—ding! Ding—ding! 

In a minute afterward, Rollo and Jane heard 
the sound repeated in precisely the same man¬ 
ner from another bell, that seemed to be far in 
the forward part of the ship. 

Ding—ding! Ding—ding! 

“I wonder what that means?" said Rollo. 

“I expect it means that it is four o’clock," 
said Jane. 

“I should not think it could be so late as 
four o’clock," said Rollo. 

“I have a great mind to go and ask the 
helmsman what it means," he added, after a 
moment’s pause. 

"No," said Jane, "you must not go." 

It is difficult to say precisely why Jane did 
not wish to have Rollo go and ask the helms¬ 
man about the bell, but she had an instinctive 


70 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


feeling that it was better not to do it. So Rollo 
sat still. His attention was very soon turned 
away from the bell by Jane’s calling out to 
him to see some sailors go up the rigging. 
There were regular shrouds, as they are called, 
that is, ladders formed of ropes, which led up 
on each side of the masts part way to where 
the sailors seemed to wish to go. Above the 
top of the shrouds there were only single ropes 
and Rollo wondered what the sailors would do 
when they came to these. They found no 
difficulty, however, for when they reached the 
top of the shrouds they continued to mount by 
the ropes with very little apparent effort. 
They would take hold of two of the ropes that 
were a little distance apart with their hands, 
and then, curling their legs round them in a 
peculiar manner below, they would mount up 
very easily. They thus reached the yard, as it 
is called, which is a long, round beam, extend¬ 
ing along the upper edge of the sail, and, 
spreading themselves out upon it in a row, 
they proceeded to do the work required upon 
the sail, leaning over upon the yard above, 
and standing upon a rope, which was stretched 
for the purpose along the whole length of it 
below. 

“I wonder if I could climb up there,” said 
Rollo. “Do you suppose they would let me 
try?” 

“No, indeed!” said Jane, very earnestly; 
“you must not try, by any means.” 

“I believe that I could climb up there,” said 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


71 


Rollo; “that is, if the vessel would stop rock¬ 
ing to and fro, and hold still.” 

Presently, however, a boy, who appeared to 
be about eighteen or nineteen years of age, 
and who was upon another mast, accomplished 
a feat which even Rollo himself admitted that 
he should not dare to undertake. It seemed 
that he had some operation to perform upon a 
part of the rigging down some fifteen feet from 
where he was; so, with a rope hung over his 
shoulder, he came down hand over hand, by a 
single rope or cable called a stay, until he 
reached the place where the work was to be 
performed. Here he stopped, and, clinging to 
the rope that he had come down upon with his 
legs and one hand, he contrived with the other 
hand to fasten one end of the short rope which 
he had brought with him to the stay, and then, 
carrying the other end across, he fastened it to 
another cable which was near. He then seated 
himself upon this cross rope as upon a seat, 
and clinging to his place by his legs, he had 
his hands free for his work. When he had fin¬ 
ished his work he untied the cross rope, and 
then went up the cable hand over hand as he 
had come down. 

“I am sure I could not do that,” said Rollo. 
“And I should not think that anybody but a 
monkey could do it, or a spider. “ 

In fact, the lines of rigging, as seen from 
the place where Rollo and Jane were seated, 
looked so fine, and the men appeared so small, 
that the whole spectacle naturally reminded 
one of a gigantic spider’s web, with black 


72 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


spiders of curious forms ascending and descend¬ 
ing upon them, so easily and adroitly did the 
men pass to and fro and up and down, attach¬ 
ing new lines to new points, and then running 
off with them, as a spider would do with her 
thread, wherever they were required. But 
after all, in respect to the power of running 
about among lines and rigging, the spider is 
superior to man. She can not only run up and 
down far more easily and readily wherever she 
wishes to go, but she can make new attach¬ 
ments with a touch, and make them strong 
enough to bear her own weight and all other 
strains that come upon them; while the sailor, 
as Rollo and Jane observed on this occasion, 
was obliged in his fastenings to wind his ropes 
round and round, and tie them into compli¬ 
cated knots, and then secure the ends with 
“spun yarn.” 

While Rollo and Jane were watching the 
sailors, they saw them unfurl one after another 
of the sails, and spread them to the wind; for 
the wind was now fair, and it was fresh 
enough to assist the engines considerably in 
propelling the ship through the water. Still, 
as the ship was going the same way with the 
wind, the breeze was scarcely felt upon the 
deck. The air was mild and balmy, and the 
surface of the sea was comparatively smooth, 
so that the voyage was beginning very pros¬ 
perously. Rollo looked all around the horizon, 
but he could see no land in any direction. 
There was not even a ship in sight; nothing 
but one wide and boundless waste of waters. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


73 


“I should think that there would be some 
other ships going to England to-day,” he said, 
‘‘besides ours.” 

Jane did not know what to think on such a 
subject, and so she did not reply. 

‘ ‘ Let us watch for whales, ’ ’ said Rollo. ‘ ‘ Per¬ 
haps we shall see a whale. You watch the 
water all along on that side, and I will on this 
side; and if you see any whale spout, tell me.” 

So they both kept watch for some time, but 
neither of them saw any spouting. Jane gave 
one alarm, having seen some large, black-look¬ 
ing monsters rise to the surface not far from 
them on one side of the ship. She called out 
eagerly to Rollo to look. He did so, but he 
said that they were not whales; they were por¬ 
poises. He had seen porpoises often before, in 
bays and harbors. 

Just then the bell near the helmsman’s win¬ 
dow struck again, though in a manner a little 
different from before; for after the two pairs 
of strokes which had been heard before there 
came a single stroke, making five in all, 
thus:— 

Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding. 

Immediately afterward the sound was 
repeated in the forward part of the ship, as it 
had been before. 

Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding. 

“I wonder what that means,” said Rollo. 

Just then an officer of the ship, in his walk 
up and down the deck, passed near to where 
Rollo was sitting, and Rollo instinctively deter¬ 
mined to ask him. 



74 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


“Will you please tell me, sir, what that strik¬ 
ing means?" 

“It’s five bells," said the man; and so 
walked on. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


75 


CHAPTER VI. 

A CONVERSATION. 

Rollo at first felt quite disappointed that the 
officer seemed so little disposed to give him 
information; but immediately after the officer 
had gone another man came by, one of the 
passengers, as Rollo supposed, who proved to 
be more communicative. He wore a glazed 
cap and a very shaggy greatcoat. He sat down 
by the side of Jennie, Rollo being on the other 
side, and said,— 

“He does not seem inclined to tell you much 
about the bells, does he, Rollo?” 

“No, sir,” replied Rollo; “but how did you 
know that my name was Rollo?” 

“O, I heard about you down in the cabin,” 
replied the stranger; “and about you too, 
Jennie, and your beautiful little kitten. But I 
will explain the meaning of the bells to you. 
I know all about them. I belong on board 
this ship. I am the surgeon. ” 

“Are you?” said Rollo. “I did not know 
that there was any surgeon in the ship. ’ ’ 

“Yes,” replied the gentleman. “It is quite 
necessary to have a surgeon. Sometimes the 
seamen get hurt, and require attendance; and 
then sometimes there are cases of sickness 
among the passengers. I have got quite a 


76 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


little apothecary’s shop in my state room. I 
will show it to you by and by. But now about 
the bells. ” 

“You must know,’’ continued the surgeon, 
“that people strike the time at sea in a very 
different manner from that which is customary 
on land. In the first place, they have a man 
to strike it; they cannot have a clock. ’ ’ 

“I do not see why not,” said Rollo. 

“Because at sea,” rejoined the surgeon, “the 
time changes every day, and no clock going 
regularly can keep it. Time depends upon the 
sun, and when the ship is going east she goes 
to meet the sun; and it becomes noon, that is, 
midday, earlier. When the ship is going west, 
she goes away from the sun, and then it 
becomes noon later. Thus noon has to be 
fixed every day anew and a clock going regu¬ 
larly all the time would be continually getting 
wrong. Then, besides, the rolling and pitch’ 
ing of the ship would derange the motion of 
of the weights and pendulum of the clock. In 
fact, I don’t believe that a clock could be made 
to go at all—unless, indeed, it were hung on 
gimbals. ” 

“What are gimbals?” asked Rollo. 

“They are a pair of rings,” replied the sur¬ 
geon, “one within the other, and each mounted 
on pivots in such a manner that any thing 
hung within the inner ring will swing any way 
freely. The lamps down in the cabin are hung 
on gimbals.” 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “I saw them.” 

“Then, besides,” continued the surgeon, “if 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


77 


the men strike the bells themselves, the sound, 
coming regularly every half hour, proves that 
they are at their posts and attending to their 
duties. So that, even if a machine could be 
invented to strike the time on board ship every 
so truly, I do not think they would like to adopt 
it. 

“Another difference in striking the time on 
board ship,” continued the surgeon, “is, that 
they strike it by half hours instead of by hours. 
Scarcely any of the ship’s company have 
watches. In fact, watches are of very little 
use at sea, the time is so continually changing 
from day to day. The sailors, therefore, and 
nearly all on board, depend wholly on the 
bells; and it is necessary, accordingly, that 
they should be struck often. Every two bells, 
therefore, means an hour; and a single bell at 
the end means half an hour. Now, I will 
strike the bells for you, and you may tell me 
what o’clock it is. We begin after twelve 
o’clock. ” 

“Ding!” 

“Half past twelve,” said Rollo. 

“Ding—ding!” said the surgeon again, imi¬ 
tating the sound of the bell with his voice. 

“One o’clock,” said Rollo. 

“Ding—ding! Ding!” said the surgeon. 

“Half past one o’clock.” 

“Ding—ding! Ding—ding!” 

“Two o’clock!” 

“Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding!” 

“Half past two. ” 

“Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding—ding!” 


78 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


“Three!” 

“Ding-—ding! Ding—ding! Ding—ding! 

Ding!” 

“Half past three. ” 

“Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding—ding! 

Ding—ding!” 

“Four o’clock.” 

“Yes,” said the surgeon, “that is eight bells, 
and that is the end. Now they stop and begin 
again with one bell, which means half past 
four; and so they go on to eight bells again, 
which makes it eight o’clock. The next eight 
bells is twelve o’clock at night, and the next is 
at four o’clock in the morning, and the next at 
eight o’clock. So that eight bells means four 
o’clock, and eight o’clock, and twelve o’clock, 
by day; and four o’clock, and eight o’clock, 
and twelve o’clock, by night.” 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “now I understand it.” 

“Eight bells is a very important striking,” 
continued the surgeon. “It is a curious fact 
that almost everything important that is done 
at sea is done at some eight bells or other. ” 

“How is that?” asked Rollo. 

“Why, in the first place,” replied the sur¬ 
geon, “at eight bells in the morning, the gong 
sounds to wake the passengers up. Then the 
watch changes, too; that is, the set of men that 
have been on deck and had care of the ship 
and the sails since midnight go below, and a 
new watch, that is, a new set of men that have 
been asleep since midnight, take their places. 
Then the next eight bells, which is twelve, is 
luncheon time. At this time, too, the captain 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


79 


finds out from the sun whereabouts we are on 
the ocean, and also determines the ship’s time 
for the next twenty-four hours. The next 
eight bells is at four o’clock, and that is dinner 
time. The next eight bells is at eight o’clock, 
and that is tea time. At all these times the 
watches change too; and so they do at the 
eight bells, which sound at midnight.” 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “now I understand it. I 
wished to know very much what it meant, and 
I had a great mind to go and ask the helms¬ 
man. ” 

“It was well that you did not go and ask 
him,” said the surgeon. 

“Why?” asked Rollo. 

“Because the officers and seamen on board 
ships,” replied the surgeon, “don’t like to be 
troubled with questions from landsmen while 
they are engaged in their duties. Even the 
sensible questions of landsmen appear very 
foolish to seamen; and then, besides, they com¬ 
monly ask a great many that are absolutely 
very foolish. They ask the captain when he 
thinks they will get to the end of the voyage; 
or, if the wind is ahead, they ask him when he 
thinks it will change, and all such foolish ques¬ 
tions ; as if the captain or anybody else could 
tell when the wind would change. Sailors 
have all sorts of queer answers to give to these 
questions, to quiz the passengers who ask 
them, and amuse themselves. For instance, if 
the passengers ask when anything is going to 
happen, the sailors say, ‘The first of the 
month. ’ That is a sort of proverb among 


80 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


them, and is meant only in fun. But if it hep- 
pens to be near the end of the month, the pas¬ 
sengers, supposing the answer is in earnest, 
goes away quite satisfied, while the sailors 
wink at each other and laugh ” 

“Yes,” said Rollo. “I heard a lady ask the 
captain, a short time since, when he thought 
we should get to Liverpool.” 

“And what did the captain say?” asked the 
surgeon. 

“He said,” replied Rollo, “that she must go 
and ask Boreas and Neptune, and some of 
those fellows, for they could tell a great deal 
better than he could. ” 

“The captain does not like to be asked any 
such questions,” continued the surgeon. “He 
cannot possibly know how the wind and sea 
are going to be during the voyage, and he does 
not like to be teased with foolish inquiries on 
the subject. There is no end to the foolish¬ 
ness of the questions which landsmen ask when 
they are at sea. Once I heard a man stop 
a sailor, as he was going up the shrouds, to 
inquire of him whether he thought they would 
see any whales on that voyage.” 

“And what did the sailor tell him?” asked 
Rollo. 

“He told him,” replied the surgeon, “that 
he thought there would be some in sight the 
next morning about sunrise. So the passenger 
got up early the next morning and took his 
seat on the deck, watching everywhere for 
whales, while the sailors on the forcastle, who 



ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


81 


had told the story to one another, were all 
laughing at him.” 

Rollo himself laughed at this story. 

“These questions, after all, are not really so 
foolish as they seem,” said the surgeon. “For 
instance, if a passenger asks about seeing 
whales, he means merely to inquire whether 
there are whales in that part of the ocean, and 
whether they are usually seen from the ships 
that pass along, and if so, how frequently, in 
ordinary cases, the sight of them may be 
expected. All this, rightly understood, is 
sensible and proper enough; but sailors are 
not great philosophers, and they generally see 
nothing in such inquiries but proofs of ridicu¬ 
lous simplicity and chances for them to make 
fun. 

“You can tell just how it seems to them 
yourself, Rollo,” continued the surgeon, “by 
imagining that some farmer’s boys lived on a 
farm where sailors, who had never been in the 
country before, came by every day, and asked 
an endless series of ridiculous questions. For 
instance, on seeing a sheep, the sailor would 
ask what that was The farmer’s boys would 
tell him it was a sheep. The sailor would ask 
what it was for. The boys would say they kept 
sheep to shear them and get the wool. Then 
presently the sailor would see a cow, and would 
ask if that was a kind of a sheep The 
farmer’s boys would say no, it was a cow. 
Then the sailor would ask if they sheared cows 
to get the wool No, the boys would say, we 
milk cows. Then presently he would see a 

6 Atlantic 


82 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


horse, and he would ask whether that was a 
cow or a sheep. They would say it was 
neither; it was a horse. Then the sailor would 
ask whether they kept horses to milk or to 
shear them and so on forever. * ’ 

Rollo laughed loud and long at these imagin¬ 
ary questionings. At last he said,— 

“But I don’t think we ask such foolish ques¬ 
tions as these. ’’ 

“They do not seem so foolish to you,” 
replied the surgeon, “but they do to the sailors. 
The sailors, you see, know all the ropes and 
rigging of the ship, and everything seen at sea, 
just as familiarly as boys who live in the coun¬ 
try do sheep, and cows, and wagons, and other 
such objects seen about the farm; and the total 
ignorance in reg’ard to them which landsmen 
betray, whenever they begin to ask questions 
on board, seems to the sailors extremely ridic¬ 
ulous and absurd. So they often make fun of 
the passengers who ask them, and put all sorts 
of jokes upon them. For instance, a passenger 
on board a packet ship once asked a sailor 
what time they would heave the log. ‘The 
log,’ said the sailor, ‘they always heave the 
log at nine bells. When you hear nine bells 
strike, go aft, and you’ll see them.’ So the 
passenger watched and counted the bells every 
time they struck, all the morning, in the hopes 
to hear the nine bells, whereas they never 
strike more than eight bells. It was as if a 
man had said, on land, that such or such a 
thing would happen at thirteen o’clock.’’ 

Rollo and Jennie laughed. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 


83 


“So you must be careful, ” continued the sur¬ 
geon, “what questions you ask of the officers 
and seamen about the ship; and you must be 
careful, too, what you believe in respect to the 
things they tell you. Perhaps it will be the 
truth they will tell you, and perhaps they will 
be only making fun of you. You may ask me, 
however, anything you like. I will answer you 
honestly. I am at leisure, and can tell you as 
well as not. Besides, I like to talk with 
young persons like you. I have a boy at home 
myself of just about your rating. ’ ’ 

“Where is your home?” asked Rollo. 

“It is upon the North River,’ said the sur¬ 
geon, “about one hundred miles from New 
York. And now I must go away, for it is 
almost eight bells, and that is dinner time. I 
shall see you again by and by There’s one 
thing more, though, that I must tell you before 
I go; and that is, that you had better not go to 
any strange places about the ship where you do 
not see the other passengers go. For instance, 
you must not go up upon the paddle boxes.” 

“No,” said Rollo. “I saw a sign painted, 
saying that passengers were not allowed to go 
upon the paddle boxes ” 

“And you must not go forward among the 
sailors, or climb up upon the rigging,” contin¬ 
ued the surgeon. 

“Why not?” asked Rollo. 

“Because those parts of the ship are for the 
seamen alone, and for others like them, who 
have duties to perform on shipboard What 
should you think,” continued the surgeon, “if 


84 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


some one who had come to make a visit at your 
house were to go up stairs, looking about in all 
the chambers, or down into the kitchen, exam¬ 
ining everything there to see what he could 
find?” 

‘‘I should think it was very strange,” said 
Jennie. 

“Certainly,” said the surgeon, “and it is the 
same on board ship. There are certain parts 
of the ship, such as the cabins, the state rooms, 
and the quarter decks, which are appropriated 
to the passengers; and there are certain other 
parts, such as the forecastle, the bows, and the 
rigging, which are the domains of the seamen. 
It is true that sometimes a passenger may go 
into these places without impropriety, as, for 
example, when he has some business there, or 
when he is specially invited; just as there may 
circumstances which would render it proper 
for a gentleman to go into the kitchen, or into 
the garret, at a house where he is visiting. 
But those are exceptions to the general rules, 
and boys especially, both when visiting in 
houses and when they are passengers on board 
ships, should be very careful to keep in proper 
places.” 

“I am glad I did not go climbing up the rig¬ 
ging, ” said Rollo. 

“Yes,” replied the surgeon. “Once I knew 
a passenger go climbing up the shrouds on 
board an East Indiaman, and when he had got 
half way up to the main top, and began to be 
afraid to proceed, the sailors ran up after him, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


85 


and, under pretence of helping him, they tied 
him there, hand and foot, with spun yarn.” 

“Ha!” said Rollo. “And what did he do?” 

“He begged them to let him down, but they 
would not. They said it was customary, when¬ 
ever a landsmen came up into the rigging, for 
him to pay for his footing b)^ a treat to the sail¬ 
ors ; and that they would let him down if he 
would give them a dollar for a treat.” 

“And did he give it to them?” asked Rollo. 

“Yes, he said he would,” replied the sur¬ 
geon, “if they would untie one of his hands, so 
that he could get the dollar out of his pocket. 
So they untied one of his hands, and he gave 
them the dollar. Then they untied his other 
hand and his feet, and so let him go down.” 

“Why did not he call the captain?” asked 
Rollo. 

“O, the captain would not have paid any 
attention to such a case,” replied the surgeon. 
“If he had been on deck at the time he would 
have looked the other way, and would have 
pretended not to see what was going on; but he 
would really have been pleased. He would 
have considered the passenger as justly pun¬ 
ished for climbing about where he had no busi¬ 
ness to go. ’ ’ 

Rollo was greatly interested in this narra¬ 
tive. He thought what a narrow escape he had 
had in deciding that he would not attempt to, 
climb up the shrouds, and he secretly deter¬ 
mined that he would be very careful, not only- 
while he was on board the steamer, but also 
on all other occasions, not to violate the pro- 


8G 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


prieties of life by obtruding himself into places 
where he ought not to go. 

The surgeon now went away, leaving Rollo 
and Jane on the settee together. 

“I wish,” said Rollo, “that I had asked him 
what he meant by heaving the log.” 

“No,” said Jane, “you must not ask any 
questions.” 

“Yes,” replied Rollo, “I may ask him ques¬ 
tions. He said that I might ask any questions 
that I pleased of him. ” 

“Well,” said Jane, “then you must ask him 
the next time you see him. ” 

“I will,” said Rollo. “And now let us go 
down into our state room and find Maria, and 
get ready to go to dinner. ” 

“Well,” said Jane, “only let me go first 
alone. I want to see if I cannot find my way 
to the stateroom alone.” 

Rollo acceded to this proposal, and he accord¬ 
ingly remained on the settee himself while 
Jane went down. Jane looked up toward him 
when she turned to go down the steep flight of 
stairs which led from the promenade deck, 
with a smile upon her countenance which 
seemed to say, “You see I am right so far,” 
and then, descending the steps,—holding on 
carefully all the time by the green rope,—she 
•soon disappeared from view. Rollo waited a 
proper time, and then followed Jane. He 
found her safe upon the couch in her state 
room, with Maria seated by her side. 

In a very few minutes after Rollo came into 
the state room eight bells struck, and so they 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


87 


all went out to dinner. At first, Jennie said 
that she did not wish to go. She did not wish 
for any dinner. In fact, Rollo perceived, in 
looking at her, that she was beginning to be 
a little pale. Maria told her, however, that 
she had better go and take some dinner. 

“The rule at sea,” said Maria, “always is, to 
go to the table if you possibly can.” 

So they all went out into the dining saloon 
through the long and narrow passages that 
have been already described. They were 
obliged to put their hands up to the sides of 
the passage ways, first to one side and then to 
the other, to support themselves, on account 
of the rolling of the ship, for there now began 
to be considerable motion. When they 
reached the saloon they staggered into their 
places, and there sat rocking gently to and 
fro on the long swell of the sea, and prepared 
to eat their dinner. 

The dinner was very much like a dinner in 
a fine hotel on land, except that, as every¬ 
thing was in motion, it required some care to 
prevent the glasses and plates from sliding 
about and spilling what they contained. Be¬ 
sides the ledges along the sides of the tables, 
there were also two running up and down in 
the middle of it, partitioning off the space 
where the various dishes were placed, in the 
center, from the space along the sides where 
the plates, and knives, and forks, and tum¬ 
blers of the several guests were laid. This 
arrangement served, in some measure, to 
keep everything in its place; but notwith- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


standing this, there was a good deal of sliding 
and jingling among the glasses whenever an 
unusual sea came rolling along. In one case, 
a tumbler, which the person whom it belonged 
to had not properly secured, came sliding 
down toward him, while his hands were busy 
taking care of his soup plate; and when it 
came to the ledge which formed the edge of 
the table, the bottom of it was stopped, but 
the top went over, and poured all the water 
into the gentleman’s lap. Upon this all the 
passengers around the place laughed very 
heartily. 

“There, Rollo,” said Jane, “you had better 
be careful, and not let your tumbler get 
upset. ’’ 

“Why, it is nothing but water,” replied 
Rollo. “It won’t do any harm. I would as 
lief have a little water spilled on me as not.” 

“I should not care about the water so much,” 
replied Jennie; “but I would not as lief have 
everybody laughing at me as not.” 

This was a very important distinction, and 
Rollo concluded that it was, after all, better 
to be careful. He watched the movements of 
the other passengers when the seas came, and 
observed the precautions which they took to 
guard against such accidents, and by imitat¬ 
ing these he soon became quite adroit. The 
dinner took a good deal of time, as there were 
many courses, all served with great regu¬ 
larity. First, there was soup; then fish of 
various kinds; then all sorts of roasted meats, 
such as beef, mutton, chickens, and ducks, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


89 


with a great variety of vegetables. Then came 
puddings, pies, jellies, ice creams, and pre¬ 
serves; and, finally, a dessert of nuts, raisins, 
apples, almonds, and oranges. In fact, it was 
a very sumptuous dinner, and what was very 
remarkable, when at last it was ended, and 
the party rose from the table to go back to the 
cabin, Jennie said that she had a better appe¬ 
tite at the end of the dinner than she had had 
at the beginning. 


90 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


CHAPTER VII. 

INCIDENTS. 

By the time that Rollo and Jennie had been 
two days at sea, they had become accustomed 
to their novel position, and they began to feel 
quite at home on board the ship. They 
formed acquaintance with several of the pas¬ 
sengers, and they went to and fro about the 
cabins and decks, and visited their friends in 
their state rooms quite freely, sometimes alone 
and sometimes together. The sky was clear, 
and the water was comparatively smooth. It 
is true that there was a long swell upon the 
surface of the sea, which produced a contin¬ 
ual, though gentle, rocking of the ship, that 
made many of the passengers sick and uncom¬ 
fortable. Rollo and Jane, however, felt for 
the most part quite well. Sometimes, for a 
short period, one or the other of them looked 
pale, and seemed dispirited. At such times 
they would lie down upon the couch in their 
state room, or upon a sofa in one of the 
saloons, and remain quietly there an hour at a 
time. Jennie usually in such cases was accus¬ 
tomed to lie on the couch in her state room, 
on account of the seclusion of it, while Rollo, 
on the other hand, seemed to prefer the 
saloon He, being a boy, did not care so much 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


91 


about the seclusion. On the contrary, it 
amused him to see the people going to and fro 
and to watch the reflections of their forms in 
the mirrors about him. Sometimes, also, it 
would happen that there were two or more of 
the passengers seated near him and engaged 
in conversation, that it entertained him to 
hear; especially when it related, as it often 
did, to adventures and incidents that they had 
met with at sea on former voyages. It was 
necessary, however, that persons thus convers¬ 
ing should be seated very near, in order that 
Rollo should hear them; for the ship kept up 
a continual creaking in all its joints, from the 
rolling of the sea, which made it very difficult 
to hear what was said across the cabin. 

The mirrors, however, and the reflections in 
them, produced the most singular illusions, 
and were a source of continual interest to 
Rollo’s mind, as he lay upon the sofa sur¬ 
rounded by them. There were so many of 
these mirrors, that the saloon, and all that 
pertained to it, were reflected a great many 
times, and thus produced the most wonderful 
effects. Long passages were seen running off 
in all directions, and cabin beyond cabin, in 
an endless perspective. So bright and dis¬ 
tinct, too, were the reflections, that it was 
difficult to tell whether what you were looking 
at was real, or only an imagined reflection of 
it. Sometimes Rollo would see, apparently 
at a great distance, a man walking along 
among carved columns in some remote passage 
way, and then, in an instant, the man would 


92 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


pass directly by his sofa. He had been near 
all the time, and it was only some third or 
fourth reflection of him that Rollo had seen. 

On the afternoon of the second day of Rullo’s 
voyage, just before eight bells, which would 
be the time for dinner, as Rollo was lying on 
a sofa in the saloon, feeling very miserably, 
and extremely disinclined to speak or to move, 
two young men came along, talking in a loud 
and somewhat noisy manner. They stopped 
opposite to him, and one of them began punch¬ 
ing Rollo with the curved head of his cane, 
saying,— 

“Well, Rollo, what’s the matter with you? 
Sick? O, get up, boy, and drive about. Don’t 
lie moping here like a landlubber. Get up, 
and go and eat some dinner. It is almost 
eight bells.’’ 

Rollo wished very much that these visitors 
would leave him alone. He made very little 
reply to them, only saying that he did not wish 
for any dinner. In fact, he felt sure that, if 
he were to go to the table, he could not eat 
anything. 

The men, after laughing at him, and punch¬ 
ing him, and teasing him a little longer, went 
away. 

A few minutes after this, Maria and Jennie 
came into the saloon. They were ready to go 
to dinner, and so they came into the saloon to 
wait there till the gong should sound. When 
they saw Rollo lying upon the sofa, they went 
up to him, but did not speak. Rollo opened 
his eyes and looked at them Maria smiled. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


93 


but still did not speak. Rollo smiled in return, 
though somewhat faintly, and then shut his 
eyes again. Then Maria led Jennie away, 
gently. 

“You see,” said Maria to Jennie, when they 
had gone out of Rollo’s hearing, “he feels a 
little sick, and when a person feels seasick they 
do not like to talk. I am going to get him a 
bowl of broth. " ’ 

“Well,” said Jennie, “let me go and ask 
him if he would like some. ” 

“No,” said Maria. “If you were to ask 
him, he would say no. He would think that 
he could not eat it; and yet, if I bring it to 
him, without saying anything about it, when he 
tastes it perhaps he will like it. In fact, when 
people are sick, it is always better not to ask 
them too much about what they would like. 
It is better to consider what we think they 
would like, and bring it to them, without say¬ 
ing anything about it beforehand.” 

So saying, Maria rang the saloon bell. The 
chambermaid came in answer to the summons. 
Maria then sent the chambermaid to the din¬ 
ing saloon to bring a bowl of chicken broth to 
her. The chambermaid went out, and pres¬ 
ently returned, bringing the broth, just as the 
gong was sounding for dinner. Maria carried 
the broth to Rollo. 

When she offered it to him, Rollo thought 
at first that he should not be able to take but 
two or three spoonfuls of it, but on tasting it 
he found that he liked it very much. He ate 


94 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


it all, and, as he lay down again upon his sofa, 
he said that he felt a great deal better. 

Maria then told him that he might lie still 
there as long as he pleased; adding, that she 
and Jennie were going to dinner. Maria and 
Jennie then went away, leaving Rollo alone 
again. 

Rollo felt so much better for the broth that 
he had taken, that pretty soon he rose from 
his recumbent position, and began to sit up. 
Presently he said to himself, “How much bet¬ 
ter I do feel; I believe I will go and get some 
dinner. ” 

So he rose from the sofa, and began to stag¬ 
ger along toward the door of the saloon. He 
found, however, that after all he felt some¬ 
what giddy and light headed; and he con¬ 
cluded, therefore, that, instead of going to 
dinner, he would go up on deck and see how 
the wind was. He accordingly turned to the 
staircase which led up to the main deck, and 
steadying himself by the hand rail as he 
ascended the steps, he went up. 

At the head of the stairs was a passage way, 
and at the end of the passage way there was a 
space upon the deck, which was half enclosed; 
it being shut in by an awning on the windy 
side, and open on the other. This space was 
often resorted to by passengers who were sick, 
and who wished for more fresh air than they 
could have below. There was a row of settees 
on one side of this space, and, at the time 
that Rollo came up there, there was a lady 
lying on one of these settees, apparently in a 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


95 


very forlorn condition. She looked very pale, 
and her eyes were shut. She was lying- upon 
a mattress, which had been put upon the set¬ 
tee for her, and was covered up with blankets 
and shawls. 

A gentleman, who seemed to be her hus¬ 
band, was standing before her, attempting to 
persuade her to get up. He did this, however, 
as Rollo thought, in rather a rough and heart¬ 
less manner. 

“O, get up! get up!” said he. “You never 
will be well if you lie here. Come, go with me 
and get some dinner.” 

The lady said, in a mournful tone, that she 
could not get up, and that she had no appetite 
for dinner. 

“Well,” said her husband, “I am going.” 

“I wish you could tell me something about 
Hilbert,” said the lady. “I feel very anxious 
about him. I am afraid that he will get into 
some trouble. He is so careless." 

“O, no,” said her husband. “Don’t disturb 
yourself about him. He’s safe enough some¬ 
where, I dare say.” 

So saying, the gentleman went away. 

Rollo immediately conceived the idea of 
performing for this lady the kind service 
which Maria had so successfully performed for 
him. So, without speaking to her at all, he 
went immediately down into the cabin again, 
and thence followed the long passages which 
led to the dining saloon, until he came to the 
door of it. He looked in, and saw that the 
people were all seated at the table, eating 


96 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


their dinners. He went to one of the waiters, 
and asked him if he would bring him a bowl 
of chicken broth, to carry to a lady who was 
sick. 

The waiter said that he would do so, and 
immediately went to get the broth. When he 
came back with it, he said to Rollo,— 

“You had better let me take it to the lady.” 

“No,” said Rollo, “I can take it myself. I 
know exactly where she is. ” 

So Rollo took the bowl, and began to carry 
it along. He did this without much difficulty, 
for it was not by any means full. Bowls of 
broth intended to be carried about ship at sea 
are never entirely full. 

When, finally, he came to the place where 
the lady was lying on the settee, he stood there 
a moment holding the bowl in his hand, with¬ 
out speaking, as he thought the lady was 
asleep; for her eyes were shut. In a moment, 
however, she opened her eyes. Rollo then 
said to her,— 

“Would not you like a bowl of broth, lady? 
I have brought some for you.” 

The lady gazed at Rollo a moment with a 
sort of bewildered look, and then, raising her¬ 
self up upon the settee, she took the broth, and 
began to eat it with the spoon. At first, she 
seemed to take it cautiously and with doubt; 
but presently, finding that she liked it, she 
took spoonful after spoonful with evident 
pleasure. Rollo was extremely delighted at 
the success of his experiment. The lady said 
nothing to him all the time though she looked 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


97 


up at him repeatedly with a very earnest gaze 
while she was taking the broth. At length 
she finished it, and then gave Rollo back the 
bowl, saying as she did it,— 

“Did my husband send you with that bowl 
of broth to me?” 

“No,” said Rollo, “I brought it myself.” 

“And what put it into your head to do that?” 
added the lady. 

“Why, Maria brought some to me when I 
was sick,” replied Rollo, “and it did me good; 
and so I thought it would do you good. ” 

The lady looked at him a moment more with 
an earnest gaze, and then lay down again, and 
shut her eyes. Presently she opened them a 
moment and said,— 

“Do you know my son Hilbert?” 

“I have seen a boy about the ship,” said 
Rollo, “not quite so big as I am. Is that 
he?” 

“With a blue jacket?” said the lady. 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “and a bow and arrows.” 

“That’s he,” said the lady. “If you will go 
and find out where he is, and ask him to come 
to me, you will do me a great deal of good.” 

Rollo had seen this boy several times in 
different places about the ship; but as he 
seemed to be rather rude and boisterous in his 
manners, and very forward and free withal in 
his intercourse with the passengers who 
chanced to speak to him from time to time, 
Rollo had not felt much disposed to form an 
acquaintance with him. The boy had a bow 
and arrows, with which he had often amused 

7 Atlantic 


98 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


himself in shooting about the decks. He did 
this with so little consideration, that at last, 
one of the officers of the ship told him that he 
must not shoot any more in those parts of the 
ship where the ladies were, but that he must 
go forward, among'the sailors, if he wished to 
practice archery. So the boy went forward, 
and from that time he spent most of his time 
on the forward deck among the sailors, and in 
the midst of the ropes and the rigging. 

Rollo now went in pursuit of him, and after 
looking for him in many places, both before 
and aft, he finally went down into the dining 
saloon, and there he found Hilbert seated at 
the table, eating dinner, with his father. His 
bow and arrows were on the seat by his side. 
Rollo went up to the place where Hilbert was 
sitting, and in a timid and cautious manner 
informed him that his mother wished to see 
him. 

“My mother!” repeated Hilbert, looking up 
surprised. 

“Yes,” replied Rollo; “she asked me to tell 
you. But I suppose that she can wait until 
you have finished your dinner.” 

“O, no,” said Hilbert, “I can’t go at all. 
Go tell her I can’t come.” 

Rollo was greatly astonished at receiving 
such a message as this from a boy to his 
mother. 

“Hilbert,” said his father, in a very stern 
and threatening manner, “go to your mother 
directly. ” 

“No,” said Hilbert, in a sort of beggingand 

** * 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


99 


whining tone. “No, if I do, she'll make me 
stay there all the afternoon.” 

“No matter for that,” said his father; “go 
directly. ” 

Hilbert did not move, but went on eating 
his dinner. 

“At least, ” said his father, “you must go 
immediately when you have done your 
dinner.” 

Hilbert muttered something in reply, but 
Rollo did not hear what it was. In fact, he did 
not wish to hear any more of such a dialogue 
as this between a child and his father. So he 
went away. He was not at all inclined to 
go back to the lady and inform her what Hil¬ 
bert had said; but he thought that he ought 
at least to go and tell her that he had found 
Hilbert, as he had been taught that it was 
always his duty to go back with a report when 
sent on a message. So he went back to the 
lady, and told her that he had found Hilbert, 
and that he was at dinner with his father. 

“And what did he say about coming to me?” 
asked the lady. 

“His father told him that he must come as 
soon as he had finished his dinner,” replied 
Rollo. 

“Very well,” said the lady, “that will do.” 

So saying, she turned her head away and 
shut her eyes again, and so Rollo withdrew. 

It would be a very nice and delicate point to 
determine whether Rollo’s answer in this case 
was or was not as full as strict honesty re¬ 
quired. He certainly did not state anything 


100 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


that was not true; nor did he, in what he said, 
convey any false impression. He, however, 
withheld a very important part of what the 
lady must have desired to know. It is un¬ 
doubtedly sometimes right for us to conceal or 
withhold the truth. Sometimes, indeed, it is 
our imperious duty to do so. Rollo’s motive 
for doing as he did in this case was to avoid 
giving a sick mother pain, by reporting to her 
the undutiful conduct of her son. Whether it 
would or would not have been better for him 
to have communicated the whole truth, is a 
point which must be left for the readers of 
this book to discuss among themselves. 

After dinner Hilbert, instead of going to his 
mother, went up upon the deck, leaving his 
bow and arrows, however, down in the cabin. 
As Rollo and Jennie were, at that time, seated 
near the after part of the promenade deck, he 
came and sat down near them. Rollo had a 
great desire to get up and go away, taking 
Jennie with him; but he feared that it would 
be impolite for him to do so; and while he was 
considering what he should do, the surgeon 
came along that way, and said to them,— 

“Children, have you seen the little bird?” 

“What bird?” exclaimed the children, all to¬ 
gether.” “Why, there has a bird came on 
board,” replied the surgeon. “He belongs in 
Nova Scotia, I suppose. That is the nearest 
land. He is forward, somewhere, among the 
sailors. ’" 

The children immediately hurried out to the 
most forward part of the promenade deck, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


101 


near the great smoke pipe, to a place from 
which they could look down upon the forward 
deck. There they saw the little bird perched 
upon a coil of rigging. He was perfectly still. 
Some sailors were standing near, looking at 
him. The bird, however, appeared to take no 
notice of them. 

“Poor little thing!” said Rollo. “I expect 
he is tired flying so far. I wonder how far it 
is to Nova Scotia. ” 

Rollo turned round as he said this, to see if 
the surgeon was near, in order to ask him 
how far the poor bird was from home. The 
surgeon was not there, but he saw that both 
Jennie and Hilbert had suddenly started to¬ 
gether to go back toward the stairway, as if 
they were going below. 

“Jennie,” said Rollo, “where are you 
going?” 

Jennie did not answer, but hurried on. Hil¬ 
bert seemed equally eager. In fact, it was 
evident that they had both been seized with 
some new idea, though Rollo could not at 
first imagine what it was. At length, he 
said,— 

“Ah! I know. They are going down where 
the bird is, to see it nearer. I’ll go with 
them.” 

So saying, Rollo hurried away too. 

He was mistaken, however, in supposing 
that Hilbert and Jennie were merely going to 
the forward deck so as to get nearer the bird. 
Jennie was going down into the cabin to shut 
up her kitten. The instant that she saw the 


102 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


bird she was reminded of Tiger, having some¬ 
times seen Tiger run after little birds in the 
yards and gardens at home. They could 
escape from her by flying away, but this poor 
bird seemed so tired that Jennie was afraid 
the kitten would catch it and kill it, if she 
came near; and so she went off very eagerly to 
shut the kitten up. 

She found the kitten asleep on a sofa in the 
cabin. She immediately seized her, waking 
her up very suddenly by so doing, and hurried 
her off at once to her cage. Jennie put the 
kitten into the cage, and then shut and fas¬ 
tened the door. 

“There, Tiger,” said she, “you must stay 
in there. There is something up stairs that 
you must not see. ’ ’ 

Then Jennie took the cage up, by means of 
the ring which formed the handle at the top, 
and carried it into her state room. She 
pushed aside the curtains of the lower berth, 
and, putting the cage in, she deposited it upon 
a small shelf in the end of the berth. Then, 
drawing the curtains again very carefully, she 
came out of the state room and shut the door. 

“Now, Tiger,” said she, as she tried the 
door to see if it was fast, “you are safe; and 
you must stay there until the little bird goes 
away. ’ ’ 

The kitten, when she found herself thus left 
alone in such seclusion, stood for a moment 
on the floor of the cage, looking toward the 
curtains, in an attitude of great astonishment; 
then, knowing well, from past experience, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


103 


that it was wholly useless for her to speculate 
on the reasons of Jennie’s doings, she lay 
down upon the floor of the cage, curled herself 
into a ring, and went to sleep again. 

As for Hilbert, who had set off from the 
smoke pipe deck at the same time with Jennie, 
and in an equally eager manner, his going be¬ 
low had been with an entirely different intent 
from hers. He was going to get his bow and 
arrows, in order to shoot the little bird. He 
found them on the seat where he had left 
them. He seized them hastily, and ran up by 
the forward gangway, which brought him out 
upon the forward deck not very far from 
where the bird was resting upon the coil of 
rigging. He crept softly up toward him, and 
adjusted, as he went, his arrow to his bow. 
Several of the sailors were near, and one of 
them, a man whom they called Hargo, imme¬ 
diately stopped the operation that he was en¬ 
gaged in, and demanded of Hilbert what he 
was going to do. 

“I am going to pop one of my arrows into 
that bird, ” said Hilbert. 

“No such thing,” said the sailor. “You 
pop an arrow into that bird, and I’ll pop you 
overboard. ’ ’ 

Sailors will never allow any one to molest or 
harm in any way the birds that alight upon 
their ships at sea. 

“Overboard!” repeated Hilbert, in a tone 
of contempt and defiance. “You would not 
dare to do such a thing. ” 

So saying, he went on adjusting his arrow, 


104 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


and, creeping up toward the bird, began to 
take aim. 

Hargo here made a signal to some of his 
comrades, who, in obedience to it, came up 
near him in a careless and apparently unde¬ 
signed manner. Hargo then, by a sudden and 
unexpected movement, pulled the bow and 
arrow out of Hilbert’s hand, and passed them 
instantly behind him to another sailor, who 
passed them to another, each standing in such 
a position as to conceal what they did en¬ 
tirely from Hilbert’s sight. The thing was 
done so suddenly that Hilbert was entirely be¬ 
wildered. His bow and arrow were gone, but 
he could not tell where. Each sailor, the in¬ 
stant that he had passed the bow and arrow to 
the next, assumed a careless air, and went on 
with his work with a very grave and unmean¬ 
ing face, as if he had not been taking any 
notice of the transaction. The last man who 
received the charge was very near the side of 
the ship, and as he stood there, leaning with a 
careless air against the bulwarks, he slyly 
dropped the bow and arrow overboard. They 
fell into the water just in advance of the pad¬ 
dle wheel. As the ship was advancing 
through the water all this time with tremen¬ 
dous speed, the paddle struck both the bow 
and the arrow the instant after they touched 
the water, and broke them both into pieces. 
The fragments came ou£ behind, and floated 
off unseen in the foam which drifted away in 
a long line in the wake of the steamer. 

Hilbert was perfectly confounded. He 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


1C5 


knew nothing of the fate which his weapons 
had met with. All he knew was, that they 
had somehow or other suddenly disappeared as 
if by magic. Hargo had taken them, he was 
sure; but what he had done with them, he 
could not imagine. He was in a great rage, 
and turning to Hargo with a fierce look, he 
demanded, in a loud and furious tone,— 

“Give me back my bow and arrow.” 

‘ 4 1 have not got your bow and arrow, ’ ’ said 
Hargo. 

So saying, Hargo held up both hands, by 
way of proving the truth of his assertion. 

Hilbert gazed at him for a moment, utterly 
at a loss what to do or say, and then he looked 
at the other sailors who were near, first at one, 
and then at another; but he could get no clew 
to the mystery. 

“You have got them hid behind you,” said 
Hilbert, again addressing Hargo. 

“No,” said he. “See.” 

So saying, he turned round and let Hilbert 
see that the bow and arrow were not behind 
him. 

“Well, you took them away from me, at any 
rate,” said Hilbert; and saying this, he turned 
away and walked off, seemingly very angry. 
He was going to complain to his father. 

He met his father coming up the cabin stairs 
and began, as soon as he came near him, to 
complain in very bitter and violent language 
of the treatment that he had received. Hargo 
had taken away his bow an arrow, and would 
not give them back to him. 


106 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


“Very well, ” replied his father, quietly, 
“you had been doing some mischief with 
them, I suppose.” 

“No,” said Hilbert, “I had not been doing 
anything at all. ” 

“Then you were going to do some mischief 
with them, I suppose,” said his father. 

“No,” said Hilbert, “I was only going to 
shoot a little bird. ’ * 

“A little bird!” repeated his father, sur¬ 
prised. “What little bird?” 

“Why, a little bird that came on board from 
Nova Scotia, they said,” replied Hilbert. 
“Pie came to rest.” 

“And you were going to shoot him?” said 
his father, in a tone of surprise. Then, after 
pausing a moment, he added, “Here, come 
with me.” 

So saying, Hilbert’s father turned and 
walked down the cabin stairs again. He led 
the way to his state room, which, as it hap¬ 
pened, was on the opposite side of the cabin 
from that which Jennie occupied. When he 
reached the door of the state room, he opened 
it, and standing on one side, he pointed the 
way to Hilbert, saying sternly,— 

“Go in there!” 

Hilbert went in. 

“You will stay there, now,” said his father, 
“as long as that bird sees fit to remain on 
board. It won’t do, I see, for you both to be 
on deck together.” 

So saying, Hilbert’s father shut the state 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


107 


room door, and locked it; and then, putting 
the key in his pocket, went away. 

The bird was now safe, his two enemies— 
the only enemies he had on board the steamer 
—being shut up in their respective state 
rooms, as prisoners, one on one side of the 
cabin, and the other on the other. He did 
not, however, rest any the more quietly on 
this account; for he had not at any time been 
conscious of the danger that he had been in, 
either from the kitten or the boy. He went 
on reposing quietly at the resting-place which 
he had chosen on the coil of rigging, until at 
last, when his little wings had become some¬ 
what reinvigorated, he came down from it, and 
went hopping about the deck. Jennie and 
Maria then went down below and got some 
bread for him. This they scattered in crumbs 
before him, and he came and ate it with 
great satisfaction. In about two hours he 
began to fly about a little; and finally he 
perched upon the bulwarks, and looked all over 
the sea. Perceiving that he was now strong 
enough to undertake the passage home to his 
mate, he flew off, and ascending high into 
the air, until he obtained sight of the coast, 
he then set forth with great speed in that 
direction. It was several hundred miles to 
the shore, and he had to rest two or three 
times on the way. Once he alighted on an 
English ship-of-war that was going into Hali¬ 
fax; the next time upon a small fishing boat 
on the Banks. He was not molested at either 
of his resting-places; and so in due time he 


108 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


safely reached the shore, and joined his mate 
at the nest, in a little green valley in Nova 
Scotia. He was very glad to get home. He 
had not intended to have gone so far to sea. 
He was blown off by a strong wind, which 
came up suddenly while he was playing in the 
air, about five miles from shore. 

The two prisoners were liberated from their 
state rooms after having been kept shut up 
about two hours. Tiger did not mind this 
confinement at all; for her conscience being 
quiet, she did not trouble herself about it in 
the least, but slept nearly the whole time. It 
was, however, quite a severe punishment to 
Hilbert; for his mind was all the time tor¬ 
mented with feelings of vexation, self-reproach 
and shame. 



ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


109 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE STORM. 

The navigation of the Atlantic by means of 
the immense sea-going steamers of the present 
day, with all its superiority in most respects, 
is attended with one very serious disadvantge, 
at least for all romantic people, and those who 
particularly enjoy what is grand and sublime. 
To passengers on board an Atlantic steamer, 
a storm at sea—that spectacle which has, in 
former times, been so often described as the 
most grand and sublime of all the exhibitions 
which the course of nature presents to man— 
is divested almost entirely of that imposing 
magnificence for which it was formerly so 
renowned. 

There are several reasons for this. 

First, the height of the waves appears far 
less impressive, when seen from on board an 
Atlantic steamer, than from any ordinary ves¬ 
sel ; for the deck in the case of these steamers 
is so high, that the spectator, as it were, looks 
down upon them. Any one who has ever 
ascended a mountain knows very well what 
the effect is upon the apparent height of all 
smaller hills, when they are seen from an ele¬ 
vation that is far higher than they. In fact, a 
country that is really quite hilly is made to 




110 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


appear almost level, by being surveyed from 
any one summit that rises above the other 
elevations. The same is the case with the 
waves of the sea, when seen from the prome¬ 
nade deck of one of these vast steamers. 

The waves of the sea are never more than 
twelve or fifteen feet high, although a very 
common notion prevails that they run very 
much higher. It has been well ascertained 
that they never rise more than twelve or fif¬ 
teen feet above the general level of the water, 
and if we allow the same quantity for the depth 
of the trough, or hollow between two waves, 
we shall have from twenty-five to thirty feet 
as the utmost altitude which any swell of water 
can have, reckoning from the most depressed 
portions of the surface near it. Now, in a 
first-class Atlantic steamer, there are two full 
stories, so to speak, above the surface of the 
sea, and a promenade deck above the upper¬ 
most one. This brings the head of the spec¬ 
tator, when he stands upon the promenade 
deck and surveys the ocean around him, to the 
height of twenty-five or thirty feet above the 
surface of the water. The elevation at which 
he stands varies considerably, it is true, at 
different portions of the voyage. When the 
ship first comes out of port she is very heavily 
laden, as she has on board, in addition to the 
cargo, all the coal which she is to consume dur¬ 
ing the whole voyage. This is an enormous 
quantity—enough for the full lading of what 
used to be considered a large ship in former 
days. This coal being gradually consumed 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


Ill 


during the voyage, the steamer is lightened; 
and thus she swims lighter and lighter as she 
proceeds, being four or five feet higher out of 
the water when she reaches the end of her voy¬ 
age than she was at the beginning. Thus the 
height at which the passenger stands above the 
waves, when walking on the promenade deck 
of an Atlantic steamer, varies somewhat dur¬ 
ing the progress of the voyage; but it is 
always, or. almost always so great as to bring 
his head above the crests of the waves. Thus 
he looks down, as it were, upon the heaviest 
seas, and this greatly diminishes their ap¬ 
parent magnitude and elevation. On the con¬ 
trary, to one going to sea in vessels as small as 
those with which Columbus made the voyage 
when he discovered America, the loftiest bil¬ 
lows would rise and swell, and toss their foam¬ 
ing crests far above his head, as he clung to 
the deck to gaze at them. They would seem 
at times ready to overwhelm him with the vast 
and towering volumes of water which they 
raised around him. Then, when the shock 
which was produced by the encounter of one of 
them was passed, and the ship, trembling from 
the concussion, rose buoyantly over the swell, 
being small in comparison with the volume of 
the wave, she was lifted so high that she 
seemed to hang trembling upon the brink of it, 
ready to plunge to certain destruction into the 
yawning gulf which opened below. 

All this is, however, now changed. The 
mighty steamer, twice as long, and nearly four 
times as massive as she ship, surpasses the 


112 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


seas now, as it were, in magnitude and momen¬ 
tum, as well as in power. She not only tri¬ 
umphs over them in the contest of strength, 
but she towers above and overtops them in 
position. The billow can now no longer toss 
her up so lightly to the summit of its crest; 
nor, when the crest of it is passed, will she 
sink her so fearfully into the hollow of the sea. 
The spectator, raised above all apparent dan¬ 
ger, and moving forward through the scene of 
wild commotion with a power greater far than 
that which the foaming surges can exert, sur¬ 
veys the scene around him with wonder and 
admiration, it is true, but without that over¬ 
powering sensation of awe which it could once 
inspire. 

Then there is another thing. A sailing ves¬ 
sel, which is always in a great measure depend¬ 
ent upon the wind, is absolutely at its mercy 
in a storm. When the gale increases beyond a 
certain limit, she can no longer make head at 
all against its fury, but must turn and fly—or 
be driven—wherever the fury of the tempest 
may impel her. In such cases, she goes bound¬ 
ing over the seas, away from her course, to¬ 
ward rocks, shoals, breakers, or any other dan¬ 
gers whatever which may lie in the way, 
without the least power or possibility of resist¬ 
ance. She goes howling on, in such a case, 
over the wide waste of waters before her, 
wholly unable to escape from the dreadful fury 
of the master who is driving her, and with no 
hope of being released from his hand, until he 
chooses, of his own accord, to abate his rage. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 113 

All this, too, is now changed. This terrible 
master has now found his master in the sea¬ 
going steamer. She turns not aside to the right 
hand or to the left, for all his power. Boreas 
may send his gales from what quarter he 
pleases, and urge them with whatever violence 
he likes to display. The steamer goes steadily 
on, pointing her unswerving prow directly 
toward her port of destination, and triumphing 
easily, and apparently without effort, over all 
the fury of the wind and the shocks and con¬ 
cussions of the waves. The worst that the 
storm can do is to retard, in some degree, the 
swiftness of her motion. Instead of driving 
her, as it would have done a sailing vessel, two 
or three hundred miles out of her course, away 
over the sea, it can only reduce her speed in 
her own proper and determined direction to 
eight miles an hour instead of twelve. 

Now, this makes a great difference in the 
effect produced upon the mind by witnessing 
a storm at sea. If the passenger, as he sur¬ 
veys the scene, feels that his ship, and all that 
it contains, has been seized by the terrific 
power which he sees raging around him, and 
that they are all entirely at its mercy—that it 
is sweeping them away over the sea, perhaps 
into the jaws of destruction, without any pos¬ 
sible power, on their part, of resistance or es¬ 
cape—his mind is filled with the most grand 
and solemn emotions. Such a flight as this, 
extending day after day, perhaps for five hun¬ 
dred miles, over a raging sea, is really sub¬ 
lime. 

8 Atlantic 


114 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


The Atlantic steamer never flies. She 
never yields in any way to the fury of the gale, 
unless she gets disabled. While her machinery 
stands, she moves steadily forward in her 
course, and so far as any idea of danger is con¬ 
cerned, the passengers in their cabins and state 
rooms below pay no more regard to the storm 
than a farmer’s family do to whistling and 
howling of the wind among the chimneys of 
their house, in a blustering night on land. 

So much for the philosophy of a storm at sea, 
as witnessed by the passengers on board an 
Atlantic steamer. 

One night, when the steamer had been some 
time at sea, Rollo awoke, and found himself 
more than usually unsteady in his berth. 
Sometimes he slept upon his couch, and some¬ 
times in his berth. This night he was in his 
berth, and he found himself rolling from side 
to side in it, very uneasily. The creaking of 
the ship, too, seemed to be much more violent 
and incessant than it had been before. Rollo 
turned over upon his other side, and drew up 
his knees in such a manner as to prevent him¬ 
self from rolling about quite so much, and then 
went to sleep again. 

His sleep, however, was very much broken 
and disturbed, and he was at last suddenly 
awakened by a violent lurch of the ship, which 
rolled him over hard against the outer edge of 
his berth, and then back against the inner edge 
of it again. There was a sort of cord, with 
large knobs upon it, at different distances, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


115 


which was hung like a bell cord from the back 
side of the berth. Rollo had observed this 
cord before, but he did not know what it was 
for. He now however, discovered what it was 
for, as, by grasping these knobs in his hands, 
he found that the cord was an excellent thing 
for him to hold on by in a heavy sea. By 
means of this support, he found that he could 
moor himself, as it were, quite well, and keep 
himself steady when a heavy swell came. 

He was not long, however, at rest, for he 
found that his endeavors to go to sleep were 
disturbed by a little door that kept swinging 
to and fro, in his state room, as the ship rolled. 
This was the door of a little cupboard under 
the washstand. When the door swung open, 
it would strike against a board which formed 
the front side of the couch that has already 
been described. Then, when the ship rolled 
the other way, it would come to, and strike 
again upon its frame and sill. Rollo endured 
this noise as long as he could, and then he re¬ 
solved to get up and shut the door. So he put 
his feet out of his berth upon the floor—which 
he could easily do, as the berth that he was in 
was the lower one—and sat there watching for 
a moment when the ship should be tolerably 
still. When the right moment came, he ran 
across to the little door, shut it, and crowded 
it hard into its place; then darted back to his 
berth again, getting there just in time to save 
a tremendous lurch of the ship, which would 
have perhaps pitched him across the state 


116 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


room, if it had caught him when he was in the 
middle of the floor. 

Rollo did not have time to fasten the little 
door with its lock; and this seemed in fact un¬ 
necessary, for it shut so hard and tight into its 
place that he was quite confident that the fric¬ 
tion would hold it, and that it would not come 
open again. To his great surprise, therefore, 
a few minutes afterward, he heard a thump¬ 
ing sound, and, on turning over to see what 
the cause of it was, he found that the little 
door was loose again, and was swinging back¬ 
ward and forward as before. The fact was, 
that, although the door had shut in tight at 
the moment when Rollo had closed it, the 
space into which it had been fitted had been 
opened wider by the springing of the timbers 
and framework of the ship at the next roll, and 
thus set the door free again. So Rollo had to 
get up once more; and this time he locked the 
door when he had shut it, and so made it 
secure. 

Still, however, he could not sleep. As soon 
as he began in the least degree to lose con¬ 
sciousness, so as to relax his hold upon the 
knobs of his cord, some heavy lurch of the sea 
would come, and roll him violently from side 
to side, and thus wake him up again. He 
tried to brace himself up with pillows, but he 
had not pillows enough. He climbed up to 
the upper berth, and brought down the bolster 
and pillow that belonged there; and thus he 
packed and wedged himself in. But the in¬ 
cessant rolling and pitching of the ship kept 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


117 


everything in such a state of motion that the 
pillows soon worked loose again. 

After making several ineffectual attempts to 
secure for himself a quiet and fixed position in 
his berth, Rollo finally concluded to shift his 
quarters to the other side of the state room 
and try the couch. The couch had a sort of 
side board, which passed along the front side 
of it, and which was higher somewhat than the 
one forming the front of the berth. This board 
was made movable, so that it could be shifted 
from the front to the back side, and vice versa, 
at pleasure. By putting this side board back, 
the place became a sort of sofa or couch, and it 
was usually in this state during the day; but 
by bringing it forward, which was done at 
night, it became a berth, and one somewhat 
larger and more comfortable than the perma¬ 
nent berths on the other side. 

So Rollo began to make preparations for a 
removal. He threw the bolster and pillows 
across first, and then, getting out of the berth, 
and holding firmly to the edge of it, he waited 
for a moment’s pause in the motion of the 
ship; and then, when he thought that the right 
time had come, he ran across. It happened, 
however, that he made a miscalculation as to 
the time, for the ship was then just beginning 
to careen violently in the direction in which 
he was going, and thus he was pitched head 
foremost over into the-couch, where he floun¬ 
dered about several minutes among the pillows 
and bolsters before he could recover the com¬ 
mand of himself. 


118 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


At last he lay down, and attempted to com¬ 
pose himself to sleep; but he soon experienced 
a new trouble. It happened that there were 
some cloaks and coats hanging up upon a 
brass hook above him, and, as the ship rolled 
from side to side, the lower ends of them were 
continually swinging to and fro, directly over 
Rollo’s face. He tried for a time to get out of 
the way of them, by moving his head one way 
and the other; but they seemed to follow him 
wherever he went, and so he was obliged at 
last to climb up and take them all off the hook, 
and throw them away into a corner. Then he 
lay down again, thinking that he should now 
be able to rest in peace. 

At length, when he became finally settled, 
and began to think at last that perhaps he 
should be able to go to sleep, he thought that 
he heard something rolling about in Jennie’s 
state room, and also, at intervals, a mewing 
sound. He listened. The door between the 
two state rooms was always put open a little 
way every night, and secured so by the cham¬ 
bermaid, so that either of the children might 
call to the other if anything were wanted. It 
was thus that Rollo heard the sound that came 
from Jennie’s room. After listening a mo¬ 
ment, he heard Jennie’s voice calling to him. 

“Rollo,” said she, “are you awake?” 

“Yes,” said Rollo. 

“Then I wish you would come and help my 
kitten. Here she is, shut up in her cage, and 
rolling in it all over the room.” 

It was even so. Jennie had put Tiger into 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


119 


the cage at night when she went to bed, as she 
was accustomed to do, and then had set the 
cage in the corner of the state room. The vio¬ 
lent motion of the ship had upset the cage, and 
it was now rolling about from one side of the 
state room to the other—the poor kitten mew¬ 
ing piteously all the time, and wondering 
what could be the cause of the astonishing 
gyrations that she was undergoing. Maria 
was asleep all the time, and heard nothing of 
it all. 

Rollo said he would get up and help the kit¬ 
ten. So he disengaged himself from the wedg- 
ings of pillows and bolsters in which he had 
been packed, and, clinging all the time to 
something for support, he made his way into 
Jennie’s state room. There was a dim light 
shining there, which came through a pane of 
glass on one side of the state room, near the 
door. This light was not sufficient to enable 
Rollo to see anything very distinctly. He, 
however, at length succeeded, by holding to 
the side of Jennie’s berth with one hand, while 
he groped about the floor with the other, in 
finding the cage and securing it. 

“I’ve got it,” said Rollo, holding it up to the 
light. “It is the cage, and Tiger is in it. 
Poor thing! she looks frightened half to death. 
Would you let her out?’’ 

“O, no,’’ said Jennie. “She’ll only be rolled 
about the rooms herself. ’ ’ 

“Why, she could hold on with her claws, I 
should think,” said Rollo. 

“No,’’ said Jennie, “keep her in the cage, 


120 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


and put the cage in some safe place where it 
can’t get away. ” 

So Rollo put the kitten into the cage, and then 
put the cage itself in a narrow space between 
the foot of the couch and the end of the state 
room, where he wedged it in safely with a car¬ 
pet bag. Having done this, he was just about 
returning to his place, when he was dreadfully 
alarmed at the sound of a terrible concussion 
upon the side of the ship, succeeded by a noise 
as of something breaking open in his state 
room, and a rush of water which seemed to 
come pouring in there like a torrent, and fall¬ 
ing on the floor. Rollo’s first thought was 
that the ship had sprung a leak, and that she 
was filling with water, and would sink imme¬ 
diately. Jennie, too, was exceedingly alarmed; 
while Maria, who had been sound asleep all 
this time, started up suddenly in great terror, 
calling out,— 

“Mercy on me! what’s that?” 

“I’m sure I don’t know,’’ said Rollo, “unless 
the ship is sinking.’’ 

Maria put out her hand and rung the bell 
violently. In the meantime, the noise that 
had so alarmed the children ceased, and noth¬ 
ing was heard in Rollo’s room but a sort of 
washing sound, as of water dashed to and fro 
on the floor. Of course, the excessive fears 
which the children had felt at first were in a 
great measure allayed. 

In a moment the chambermaid came in with 
a light in her hand, and asked what was the 
matter. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


121 


“I don’t know,” said Maria. “Something 
or other has happened in Rollo’s state room. 
Please look in and see. ” 

The chambermaid went in, and exclaimed, 
as she entered,— 

“What a goose!” 

“Who’s a goose?” said Rollo, following her. 
“I am,” said the chambermaid, “for forget¬ 
ting to screw up your light. But go back; 
you’ll get wet, if you come here.” 

Rollo accordingly kept back in Jennie’s state 
room, though he advanced as near to the door 
as he could, and looked in to see what had hap¬ 
pened. He found that his little round window 
had been burst open by a heavy sea, and that 
a great quantity of water had rushed in. His 
couch, which was directly under the window, 
was completely drenched, and so was the floor; 
though most of the water, except that which 
was retained by the bedding and the carpet, 
had run off through some unseen opening 
below. When Rollo got where he could see, 
the chambermaid was busy screwing up his 
window tight into its place. It has already 
been explained that this window was formed 
of one small and very thick pane of glass, of 
an oval form, and set in an iron frame, which 
was attached by a hinge on one side, and made 
to be secured when it was shut by a strong 
screw and clamp on the other. 

‘ ‘ There, “said the chambermaid. “It is safe 
now; only you can’t sleep upon the couch any 
more, it is so wet. You must get into your 





122 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


berth again. I will make you up a new bed in 
the couch in the morning. ” 

Rollo accordingly clambered up into his 
berth again, and the chambermaid left him to 
himself. Presently, however, she came back 
with% dry pillow and bolster for him. 

“What makes the ship pitch and toss about 
so?” said Rollo. 

“Head wind and heavy sea,” said the cham¬ 
bermaid; “that’s all. “ 

The chambermaid then, bidding Rollo go to 
sleep, passed on into Jennie’s state room, on 
her way to her own place of repose. As she 
went by, Maria asked if there was not a storm 
coming on. 

“Yes,” said the chambermaid, “a terrible 
storm.” 

“How long will it be before morning?” asked 
Jennie. 

“O, it is not two bells yet,” said the cham¬ 
bermaid. “And you had better not get up 
when the morning comes. You’ll only be 
knocking about the cabins if you do. I’ll 
bring you some breakfast when it is time.” 

So saying, the chambermaid went away, and, 
left the children and Maria to themselves. 

Rollo tried for a long time after this to get 
to sleep, but all was in vain. He heard two 
bells strike, and then three, and then four. 
He turned over first one way, and then the 
other; his head aching, and his limbs cramped 
and benumbed from the confined and uncom¬ 
fortable positions in which he was obliged to 
keep them. In fact, when Jennie on one occa- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


123 


sion, just after four bells struck, being very 
restless and wakeful herself, ventured to speak 
to him in a gentle tone, and ask him whether 
he was asleep, he replied that he was not; that 
he had been trying very hard, but he could not 
get anything of him asleep except his legs. 

At length the gray light of the morning 
began to shine in at his little round window. 
This he was very glad to see, although it did 
not promise any decided relief to his misery; 
for the storm still continued with unabated vio¬ 
lence. At length, when breakfast time came, 
the chambermaid brought in some tea and toast 
for Maria and for both the children. They 
took it, and felt much better for it—so much 
so, that Rollo said he meant to get up and go 
and see the storm. 

“Well,” said the chambermaid, “you may 
go if you must. Dress yourself, and go on the 
next deck above this, and walk along the pas¬ 
sage way that leads aft, and there you’ll find a 
door that you can open and look out. You’ll 
be safe there. ’ ’ 

“Which way is aft?” asked Rollo. 

“That way,” replied the chambermaid, 
pointing. 

So Rollo got up, and holding firmly to the 
side of his berth with one hand, and bracing 
himself between his berth and the side of his 
was stand cupboard with his knees, as the 
ship lurched to and fro, he contrived to dress 
himself, though he was a long time in accom¬ 
plishing the feat. He then told Jennie that he 
was going up stairs to look out at some window 


124 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


or door, in order to see the storm. Jennie did 
not make much reply, and so Rollo went 
away. 

The ship rolled and pitched so violently that 
he could not stand alone for an instant. If he 
attempted to do so, he would be thrown against 
one side or the other of the cabin or passage¬ 
way by the most sudden and unaccountable 
impulses. He finally succeeded in getting up 
upon the main deck, where he went into the 
enclosed space which has already been 
described. This space was closely shut up now 
on all sides. There were, however, two doors 
which led from it out upon the deck. In order 
to go up upon the promenade deck, it was 
necessary to go out at one of these doors, and 
then ascend the promenade deck stairway. 
Rollo had, however, no intention of doing this, 
though he thought that perhaps he might open 
one of the doors a little and look out. 

While he was thinking of this, he heard steps 
behind him as of some one coming up stairs, 
and then a voice, saying,— 

“Halloo, Rollo! Are you up here?” 

Rollo turned round and saw Hilbert. He 
was clinging to the side of the doorway. Rollo 
himself was upon one of the settees. 

Just then one of the outer doors opened, and 
a man came in. He was an officer of the ship. 
A terrible gust of wind came in with him. 
The officer closed the door again immediately, 
and seeing the boys, he said to them,— 

“Well, boys, you are pretty good sailors, to 
be about the ship such weather as this. ’ * 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


125 


“I’m going up on the promenade deck,” said 
Hilbert. 

“No,” said the officer, “you had better do 
no such thing. You will get pitched into the 
lee scuppers before you know where you are. ’ ’ 

“Is there any such place where we can look 
out and see the sea?” said Rollo. 

“Yes,” replied the officer; “go aft, there, 
along that passage way, and you will find a 
door on the lee quarter where you can look 
out. ” 

So saying, the officer went away down into 
the cabin. 

Hilbert did not know what was meant by 
getting pitched into the lee scuppers, and Rollo 
did not know what the lee quarter could be. 
He however determined to go in the direction 
that the man had indicated, and see if he could 
find the door. 

As for Hilbert, he said to Rollo that he was 
not afraid of the lee scuppers or any other 
scuppers, and he was going up on the promen¬ 
ade deck. There was an iron railing, he said, 
that he could cling to all the way. 

Rollo, in the meantime, went along the pas¬ 
sage way, bracing his arms against the sides of 
it as he advanced. The ship was rolling over 
from side to side so excessively that he was 
borne with his whole weight first against one 
side of the passage way, and then against the 
other, so heavily that he was every moment 
obliged to stop and wait until the ship came up 
again before he could go on. At length he 
came into a small room with several doors 


126 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


opening from it. In the back side of this room 
was the compartment where the helmsmen 
stood with his wheel. There were several men 
in this place with the helmsmen, helping him to 
control the wheel. Rollo observed, too, that 
there were a number of large rockets put away 
in a sort of frame in the coil overhead. 

He went to one of the doors that was on the 
right-hand side of this room, and opened it a 
little way; but the wind and rain came in so 
violently that he thought he would go to the 
opposite side and try that door. This idea 
proved a very fortunate one, for, being now 
on the sheltered side of the ship, he could open 
the door and look out without exposing himself 
to the fury of the storm. He gazed for a time 
at the raging fury of the sea with a sentiment 
of profound admiration and awe. The surface 
of the ocean was covered with foam, and the 
waves were tossing themselves up in prodigious 
heaps; the crests, as fast as they were formed 
being seized and hurled away by the wind in 
a mass of driving spray, which went scudding 
over the water like drifting snow in a wintry 
storm on land. 

After Rollo had looked upon this scene until 
he was satisfied he shut the door, and returned 
along the passage way, intending to go down 
and give Jennie an account of his adventures. 
As he advanced toward the little compartment 
where the landing was, from the stairs, he 
heard a sound as of some one in distress, and 
on drawing near he found Hilbert coming in 
perfectly drenched with sea water. He was 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 


127 


moaning and crying bitterly, and, as he stag- 
geredalong, the water dripped from his clothes 
in streams. Rollo asked him what was the 
matter; but he could not answer. Hilbert 
pressed on sullenly, crying and groaning as he 
went down to find his father. 

The matter was, that, in attempting to go 
up on the promenade deck, he had unfortun¬ 
ately taken the stairway on the weather side; 
and when he had got half way up, a terrible 
sea struck the ship just forward of the paddle 
box. A portion of the wave, and an immense 
mass of spray dashed up on board the ship, and 
a quantity equal to several barrels of water 
came down upon the stairs where Hilbert was 
ascending. The poor fellow was almost 
strangled by the shock. He however clung 
manfully of the rope railing, and as soon as he 
recovered his breath he came back into the 
cabin. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


128 


CHAPTER IX. 

THE PASSENGER’S LOTTERY. 

One morning, a few days after the storm 
described in the last chapter, Rollo was sitting 
upon one of the settees that stood around the 
sky-light on the promenade deck, secured to 
their places by lashings of spun yarn, as has 
already been described, and was there listen¬ 
ing to a conversation which was going on 
between two gentlemen that were seated on 
the next settee. The morning was very pleas¬ 
ant. The sun was shining, the air was soft 
and balmy, and the surface of the water was 
smooth. There was so little wind that the 
sails were all furled—for, in the case of a 
steamer at sea, the wind, even if it is fair, can¬ 
not help to impel the ship at all, unless it moves 
faster than the rate which the paddle wheels 
would of themselves carry her; and if it moves 
slower than this, of course, the steamer would 
by her own progress outstrip it, and the sails, if 
they were spread, would only be pressed back 
against the masts by the onward progress of the 
vessel, and thus her motion would only be 
retarded by them. 

The steamer, on the day of which we are 
speaking, was going on very smoothly and 
rapidly by the power of her engines alone, and 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


129 


all the passengers were in excellent spirits. 
There was quite a company of them assembled 
at a place near one of the paddle boxes where 
smoking was allowed. Some were seated upon 
a settee that was placed there against the side 
of the paddle box, and others were standing 
around them. They were nearly all smoking, 
and, as they smoked, they were talking and 
laughing very merrily. Hilbert was among 
them, and he seemed to be listening very 
eagerly to what they were saying. Rollo was 
very strongly inclined to go out there, too, to 
hear what the men were talking about; but he 
was so much interested in what the gentlemen 
were saying who were near him, that he con¬ 
cluded to wait till they had finished their con¬ 
versation, and then go. 

The gentlemen who were near him were talk¬ 
ing about the rockets—the same rockets that 
Rollo had seen when he went back to the stern 
of the ship to look out at the sea, on the day of 
the storm. One of the men, who had often 
been at sea before, and who seemed to be well 
acquainted with all nautical affairs, said that 
the rockets were used to throw lines from one 
ship to another, or from a ship to the shore, in 
case of wrecks or storms. He said that some¬ 
times at sea a steamer came across a wrecked 
vessel, or one that was disabled, while yet there 
were some seamen or passengers still alive on 
board. These men would generally be seen 
clinging to the decks, or lashed to the rigging. 
In such cases the sea was often in so frightful 
a commotion that no boat could live in it; and 

9 Atlantic 


130 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


there was consequently on way to get the unfor¬ 
tunate mariners off their vessel but by throw¬ 
ing a line across, and then drawing them over 
in some way or other along the line. He said 
that the sailors had a way of making a sort of 
sling, by which a man could be suspended 
under such a line with loops or rings, made of 
rope, and so adjusted that they would run 
along upon it; and that by this means men 
could be drawn across from one ship to another, 
at sea, if there was only a line stretched across 
for the rings to run upon. 

Now, the rockets were used for the purpose 
of throwing such a line. A small light line 
was attached to the stick of the rocket, and 
then the rocket itself was fired, being pointed 
in such a manner as to go directly over the 
wrecked ship. If it was aimed correctly, it 
would fall down so as to carry the small line 
across the ship. Then the sailors on board the 
wrecked vessel would seize it, by means of it 
would draw the end of a strong line over, and 
thus effect the means of making their escape. 
It was, however, a very dreadful alternative, 
after all, for the rope forming this fearful 
bridge would of course be subject all the time 
to the most violent jerkings, from the rolling 
and pitching of the vessels to which the two 
extremities of it were attached, and the 
unhappy men who had to be drawn over by 
means of it would be perhaps repeatedly struck 
and overwhelmed by the foaming surges on the 
way. 

While Rollo was listening to this conversa- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


131 


tion, Hilbert’s father and another gentleman 
who had been walking with him up and down 
the deck came and sat down on one of the 
settees. Very soon, Hilbert, seeing his father 
sitting there, came eagerly to him, and said, 
holding out his hand,— 

“Father, I want you to give me half a sov¬ 
ereign.” 

“Half a sovereign,” repeated his father; 
“what do you want of half a sovereign?” 

A sovereign is the common gold coin of Eng¬ 
land. The value of it is a pound, or nearly 
five dollars; and half a sovereign is, of course, 
in value about equal to two dollars and a half 
of American money. 

“I want to get a ticket,” said Hilbert. 
“Come, father, make haste,” he added, with 
many impatient looks and gestures, and still 
holding out his hand. 

“A ticket? what ticket?” asked his father. 
As he asked these questions, he put his hand 
in his pocket and drew out an elegant little 
purse. 

“Why, they are going to have a lottery 
about the ship’s run, to-day,” replied Hilbert, 
“and I want a ticket. The tickets are half a 
sovereign apiece, and the one who gets the 
right one will have all the half sovereigns. 
There will be twenty of them, and that will 
make ten pounds.” 

“Nearly fifty dollars,” said his father; ‘‘and 
what can you do with all that money, if you 
get it? O, no, Hibby; I can’t let you have any 
money for that. And besides, these lotteries, 


132 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


and the betting about the run of the ship, are 
as bad as gambling. They are gambling, in 
fact. ’ * 

“Why, father,” said Hilbert, “you bet, very 
often.” 

Mr. Livingston, for that was his father’s 
name, and his companion, the gentleman who 
was sitting wtih him, laughed at hearing this; 
and the gentleman said,— 

“Ah, George, he has you there.” 

Even Hilbert looked pleased at the effect 
which his rejoinder had produced. In fact, he 
considered his half sovereign as already gained. 

“O, let him have the half sovereign,” con¬ 
tinued the gentleman. “He’ll find some way 
to spend the ten pounds, if he gets them, I’ll 
guarantee.” 

So Mr. Livingston gave Hilbert the half 
sovereign, and he, receiving it with great de¬ 
light, ran away. 

The plan of the lottery, which the men at 
the paddle box were arranging, was this. In 
order, however, that the reader may under¬ 
stand it perfectly, it is necessary to make a lit¬ 
tle preliminary explanation in respect to the 
mode of keeping what is called the reckoning 
of ships and steamers at sea. When a vessel 
leaves the shore at New York, and loses sight 
of the Highlands of Neversink, which is the 
land that remains longest in view, the mari¬ 
ners that guide her have then more than two 
thousand miles to go, across a stormy and 
trackless ocean, with nothing whatever but 
the sun and stars, and their own calculation of 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


13a 


their motion, to guide them. Now, unless at 
the end of the voyage they should come out 
precisely at the lighthouse or at the harbor 
which they aim at, they might get into great 
difficulty or danger. They might run upon 
rocks where they expected a port, or come 
upon some strange and unknown land, and be 
entirely unable to determine which way to turn 
in order to find their destined haven. 

The navigators could, however, manage this 
all very well, provided they could be sure of 
seeing the sun every day at proper times, par¬ 
ticularly at noon. The sun passes through 
different portions of the sky every different 
day of the year, rising to a higher point at 
noon in the summer, and to a lower one in the 
winter. The place of the sun, too, in the sky, 
is different according as the observer is more 
to the northward or southward. For inasmuch 
as the sun, to the inhabitants of northern lati¬ 
tudes, always passes through the southern part 
of the sky, if one person stands at a place one 
hundred or five hundred miles to the south¬ 
ward of another, the sun will, of course, 
appear to be much higher over his head to 
the former than to the latter. The farther 
north, therefore, a ship is at sea, the lower in 
the sky, that is, the farther down toward the 
south, the sun will be at noon. 

Navigators, then, at sea, always go out upon 
the deck at noon, if the sun is out, with a very 
curious and complicated instrument, called a 
sextant, in their hands; and with this instru¬ 
ment they measure exactly the distance from 


134 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


the sun at noon down to the southern horizon. 
This is called making an observation. When 
the observation is made, the captain takes the 
number of degrees, and minutes, and goes 
into his state room; and there, by the help of 
certain tables contained in books which he 
always keeps there for the purpose, he makes 
a calculation, and finds out the exact latitude 
of the ship; that is, where she is, in respect to 
north and south. 

There are other observations and calcula¬ 
tions by which he determines the longitude; 
that is, where the ship is in respect to east 
and west. When both these are determined 
he can find the precise place on the chart 
where the vessel is, and so—inasmuch as he 
had ascertained by the same means where she 
was the day before—he can easily calculate 
how far she has come during the twenty-four 
hours between one noon and another. These 
calculations are always made at noon, because 
that is the time for making the observations 
on the sun. It takes about an hour to make 
the calculations. The passengers on board 
the ship during this interval are generally full 
of interest and curiosity to know the result. 
They come out from their lunch at half past 
twelve, and then they wait the remaining half 
hour with great impatience. They are eager 
to know how far they have advanced on their 
voyage since noon of the day before. 

In order to let the passengers know the re¬ 
sult, when it is determined, the captain puts 
up a written notice, thus:— 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


135 


Latitude, 44 0 26\ 

Longitude, 16 0 31". 

Distance, 270. 

The passengers, on seeing this notice, which 
is called a bulletin, know at once, from the 
first two items, whereabout on the ocean they 
are; and from the last they learn that the dis¬ 
tance which the ship has come since the day 
before is 270 miles. 

This plan of finding out the ship’s place 
every day, and of ascertaining the distance 
which she has sailed since the day before, 
would be perfectly successful, and amply suffi¬ 
cient for all the purposes required, if the sun 
could always be seen when the hour arrives 
for making the observation; but this is not the 
fact. The sky is often obscured by clouds for 
many days in succession; and, in fact, it 
sometimes happens that the captain has 
scarcely an opportunity to get a good observa¬ 
tion during the whole voyage. There is, 
therefore, another way by which the navigator 
can determine where the ship is, and how fast 
she gets along on her voyage. 

This second method consists of actually 
measuring the progress of the ship through 
the water, by an instrument called the log and 
line. The log—which, however, is not any 
log at all, but only a small piece of board, 
loaded at one edge so as to float upright in the 
water—has a long line attached to it, which 
line is wound upon a light windlass called a 
reel. The line, except a small portion of it at 


136 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


the beginning, is marked off into lengths by 
small knots made in it at regular intervals. 
There are little rags of different forms and 
colors tied into these knots, so that they may 
easily be seen, and may also be distinguished 
one from the other. 

When the time comes for performing the op¬ 
eration of heaving the log, as they call it, the 
men appointed for the purpose bring the log 
and the reel to the stern of the ship. One 
man holds the log, and another man the reel. 
There are two handles, one at each end of the 
reel, by which the man who serves it can hold 
it up over his head, and let the line run off 
from it. Besides the two men who hold the 
log and the reel, there is a third, who has a 
minute glass in his hand. The minute glass 
is like an hour glass, only there is but just 
sand enough in it to run a minute. The man 
who has the minute glass holds it upon its 
side at first, so as not to set the sand to run¬ 
ning until all is ready. 

At length the man who holds the log throws 
it over into the water, and the ship, sailing 
onward all the time, leaves it there floating 
edge upward. The man who holds the reel 
lifts it up high, so that the line can run off 
easily as the ship moves on. As soon as the 
first rag runs off, which denotes the beginning 
of the marked point of the line, he calls out 
suddenly,— 

“Turn!” 

This is the command to the man who holds 
the minute glass to hold it so as to set the 



“ The man who holds the reel lifts it up high.”—Page 136.. 

Kollo on the Atlantic. 











ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


137 


sand to running. He accordingly instantly 
changes the position of the glass, and holds it 
perpendicularly, and immediately sets himself 
to watching the running out of the sand. 
The instant it is gone, he calls out,— 

“Stop!” 

The man who is holding the reel, and an¬ 
other who stands by ready to help him, in¬ 
stantly stop the line, and begin to draw it in. 
They observe how many knots have run out, 
and they know from this how many miles an 
hour the ship is going. Each knot goes for a 
mile. 

They do not have to count the knots that 
have run out. They can always determine, 
by the form and color of the last one that 
passes, what knot it is. One of the men goes 
immediately and reports to the captain that 
the ship is going so many knots, and the cap¬ 
tain makes a record of it. The other men at 
once begin to draw in the line, which brings 
the log in also at the end of it. This line 
comes in very hard, for the friction of so long 
a cord, dragged so swiftly through the water, 
is very great. It generally takes for or five 
men to pull the line in. These men walk 
along the deck, one behind the other, with the 
line over their shoulders; and at first they have 
to tug very hard. The reel man winds the 
line upon the reel as fast as they draw it in. 
It comes in more and more easily as the part 
that is in the water grows shorter; and at 
length the log itself is soon skipping through 
the foam in the wake of the ship, until it 


138 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


comes up out of the water and is taken on 
board. 

They heave the log every two hours,—that 
is, twelve times for every twenty-four hours, 
—and from the reports which the captain re¬ 
ceives of the results of these trials, it is easy 
for him to calculate how far the ship has come 
during the whole period. As he knows, too, 
exactly how far the pilot has been steering by 
the compass all this time, he has both the 
direction in which the ship has been sailing, 
and the distance to which she has come; and 
of course from these data he can calculate 
where she must now be. This mode of deter¬ 
mining the ship’s place is called by the 
reckoning. The other is called by observa¬ 
tion. 

The intelligent and reflecting boy who has 
carefully read and understood the preceding 
explanations will perceive that the two oper¬ 
ations which we have been describing are in 
some sense the reverse of each other. By 
the former, the navigator ascertains by his 
measurements where the ship actually is to¬ 
day, and then calculates from that how far, 
and in what direction, she has come since yes¬ 
terday. Whereas, by the latter method, his 
measurements determine directly how far, 
and in what direction, the ship has come; and 
then he calculates from these where she now 
is. Each method has its advantages. The 
former, that by observation, is the most sure 
and exact; but then it is not always practic¬ 
able, for it may be cloudy. On the other hand, 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


139 


the latter—that is, by the reckoning—never 
fails, for the log can always be thrown, be the 
weather what it may; but it cannot be fully 
relied upon, on account of the currents in the 
water and the drifting of the vessel. Conse¬ 
quently, on board all ships they keep the reck¬ 
oning regularly every day. Then, if they get 
a good observation, they rely upon that. If 
they do not, they go by the reckoning. 

We now return to the story. And here, I 
suppose, is the place where those sagacious 
children, who, when they are reading a book 
in which entertainment and instruction are 
combined, always skip all the instruction, and 
read only the story, will begin to read again, 
after having turned over the leaves of this 
chapter thus far, seeing they contain only ex¬ 
planations of the mode of navigating a ship, 
and saying nothing about Hilbert and Rollo. 
Now, before going any farther, I wish to 
warn all such readers, that they will not be 
able to comprehend at all clearly the compli¬ 
cated difficulties which Hilbert and the others 
got into in respect to the lottery without un¬ 
derstanding all that has been explained in the 
preceding pages of this chapter. I advise 
them, therefore, if they have skipped any of 
it, to go back and read it all, and to read it 
slowly too, and with the utmost attention. 
And I advise them, moreover, if they do not 
perfectly understand it all, to ask some older 
person to read it over with them and explain it 
to them. If they are vot willing to do this, 
but insist on skipping Lie first part of the 


140 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


chapter, I advise them to make complete work 
of it, and skip the last half too; for they cer¬ 
tainly will not understand it. 

When Hilbert went back to the paddle box 
with his half sovereign, it was about eleven 
o’clock. The observation was to be made at 
twelve; and the results, both in respect to the 
observation and reckoning, were to be calcu¬ 
lated immediately afterward. The lottery 
which the men were making related to the 
number of miles which the ship would have 
made during the twenty-four hours. The men 
were just making up the list of subscribers to 
the tickets when Hilbert went up to them. 
He gave his half sovereign to the man who 
had the list. This man, whom they called the 
Colonel, took the money, saying, “That’s 
right, my lad,” and put it in a little leather 
purse with the other half sovereigns. 

“What’s your name, Bob?” said he. 

“Livingston,” said Hilbert. 

“Bobby Livingston,” said the Colonel, writ¬ 
ing down the name on his list. 

“No,” said Hilbert, contemptuously, “not 
Bobby Livingston. Hilbert Livingston.” 

“O, never mind,” said the Colonel; “it’s all 
the same thing. Bobby means boy. ” 

The plan of the lottery was this: It was 
generally supposed that the ship’s run would 
be about 270 miles; and it was considered 
quite certain, as has already been stated, that 
it would not be more than 280, nor less than 
260. So they made twenty tickets, by cutting 
five of the Colonel’s visiting cards into quar- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


141 


ters, which tickets were to represent all the 
numbers from 261 to 280, inclusive. They 
wrote the numbers upon these cards, omitting, 
however, the first figure, namely, the 2, in 
order to save time; for as that figure came in 
all the numbers, it was considered unneces¬ 
sary to write it. When the numbers were writ¬ 
ten thus upon the card, the cards themselves 
were all put into a cap and shaken up, and 
then every one who had paid a half sovereign 
drew out one, the colonel holding the hat up 
high all the time, so that no one could see 
which number he drew. This operation was 
performed in the mid; t of jokes and gibes and 
loud shouts of laughter, which made the 
whole scene a very merry one. When Hil¬ 
bert came to draw, the merriment was re¬ 
doubled. Some called on the Colonel to hold 
down the cap lower, so that Bob could reach 
it. Others said that he was sure to get the 
lucky number, and that there was no chance 
at all for the rest of them. Others, still, were 
asking him what he would take for his ticket, 
or for half of it, quarter of it, and so on. Hil¬ 
bert was half pleased and half ashamed at 
being the object of so much coarse notoriety; 
while Rollo, who had drawn up toward the 
place, and was looking on from a safe distance 
at the proceedings that were going on, was 
very glad that he was not in Hilbert’s place. 

The ticket that Hilbert drew was marked 
67. It denoted, of course, the number 267; 
and that, being pretty near to the number of 
miles which it was thought the ship would 


142 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


probably make, was considered quite a valu¬ 
able ticket. The owners of the several 
tickets, as soon as the drawing was completed, 
began to compare them and talk about them, 
and to propose bargains to one another for 
buying and selling them, or exchanging them. 
In these negotiations each man was endeavor¬ 
ing to outwit and circumvent his friend, in 
hopes of buying his ticket for a moderate sum, 
and drawing the whole prize with it. Others 
were engaged in betting on particular tickets. 
These bets, when they were made, they re¬ 
corded in little memorandum books kept for 
the purpose. In fact, a very noisy and tumul¬ 
tuous scene of bargaining, and betting, and 
barter ensued. 

Hilbert was very much pleased with his 
ticket. He went to show it to Rollo. He said 
he verily believed that he had got the exact 
ticket to draw the prize. He did not think 
the ship would go quite 270 miles. 

“And if she does not,” said he, “and should 
happen to go only 267 miles, then I shall have 
ten pounds; and that is almost fifty dollars. ” 

So saying, Hilbert began to caper about the 
deck in the exuberance of his joy. 

His antics were, however, suddenly inter¬ 
rupted by the Colonel, who just then came up 
to him and asked to see his ticket. Hilbert 
held it up so that the Colonel could see the 
number upon it. 

“Sixty-seven,” said the Colonel. “That is 
not worth much. Nobody thinks she’ll go 
less than 270. However,” he added, in a care- 



ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


143 


less tone, “I’ll give you twelve shillings for it. 
That is two shillings over what you paid for it 
—nearly half a dollar. You’d better make 
sure of half a dollar than run the risk of losing 
everything on such a poor ticket as that.” 

“Would you?” said Hilbert, turning to Rollo. 

“I don’t know,” replied Rollo, shaking his 
head. “1 don’t know anything about it.” 

“No,” said Hilbert, turning to the Colonel 
again; “I believe I’ll keep my ticket, and 
take my chance. ’’ 

The Colonel said, “Very well; just as you 
please;” and then went away. Hilbert had, 
after this, several other offers, all of which he 
declined; and in about a quarter of an hour 
the Colonel met him again, as if accidentally, 
and began to talk about his ticket. He said 
that all the tickets under 270 were selling at a 
low price, as almost everybody believed that 
the ship’s run would be more than that; but 
still, he said, he would give a pound for Hil¬ 
bert’s ticket, if he wished to sell it. “Thus,” 
he said, “you’ll get back the half sovereign 
you paid, and another half sovereign besides, 
and make sure of it. ’’ 

But the more the people seemed to wish to 
buy Hilbert’s ticket, the less inclined he was 
to part with it. So he refused the Colonel’s 
offer, and put the card safely away in his wal¬ 
let. In one sense he was right in refusing to 
sell his chance; for as the whole business of 
making such a lottery, and buying and selling 
the tickets afterward, and betting on the result, 
is wrong, the less one does about it the better. 


144 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


Every new transaction arising out of it is a new 
sin. It could easily be shown, by reasoning on 
the philosophy of the thing, why it is wrong, 
if there were time and space for it here. But 
this is not necessary, as every man has a feel¬ 
ing in his own conscience that there is a wrong 
in such transactions. It is only bad charac¬ 
ters, in general, that seek such amusements. 
When others adventure in them a little, they 
make apologies for it. They say they are not 
in the habit of betting, or of venturing in lot¬ 
teries, or that they don’t approve of it—but 
will do it this once. Then, when people lose 
their money, the chagrin which they feel is 
always deepened and embittered by remorse 
and self-condemnation; while the pleasure 
which those feel who gain is greatly marred by 
a sort of guilty feeling, which they cannot 
shake off, at having taking the money of their 
friends and companions by such means. All 
these indications, and many others which 
might be pointed out, show that there is a 
deep-seated and permanent instinct in the 
human heart which condemns such things; and 
nobody can engage in them without doing vio¬ 
lence to this instinct, and thus committing a 
known wrong. 

In regard to most of the men who were 
engaged in the lottery, they had so often done 
such things before that their consciences had 
become pretty well seared and hardened. 
There was one man, however, who decided to 
take a ticket against considerable opposition 
that was made to it by the moral sentiments of 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


145 


his heart. This was Maria’s brother. He had 
been confined to his berth most of the voyage, 
but was now better; and he had been walking 
up and down the deck with a friend. He 
looked pale and dejected, however, and seemed 
still quite feeble. 

His friend, whom he called Charles, seeing 
that they were going on with a lottery near 
the paddle boxes, proposed that they should 
both go and buy tickets. 

“Come,” said he, “Chauncy, that will amuse 
you. ’ ’ 

“O, no,” said Mr. Chauncy. 

“Yes, come,” said Charles. “Besides, we 
ought to do our part to assist in entertaining 
one another.” 

So saying, Charles led Mr. Chauncy along, 
and partly by persuasion and partly by a little 
gentle force, he made him take out his purse 
and produce a half sovereign, too. He also 
subscribed himself, and then drew both the 
tickets. He gave one of them to Mr. Chauncy, 
and the other he kept himself; and then the 
two friends walked away. Mr. Chauncy’s 
ticket was 66, the number immediately below 
that which Hilbert had drawn. 

Mr. Chauncy, being now tired of walking, 
went to sit down upon one of the settees next 
to where Hilbert and Rollo had just gone to 
take a seat. Mr. Chauncy was next to Hilbert. 
He immediately began to talk with Hilbert 
about the lottery. 

“Have you got a ticket in this lottery?” he 
asked. 

10 Atlantic 


146 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


“Yes,” said Hilbert, “mine is 267. What is 
yours?” 

“I don’t know,” said Mr. Chauncy, “I did 
not observe.” As he said this, however, he 
took his ticket out of his pocket, and said, 
reading it, “Ninety-nine.” 

He was holding it wrong side upward, and 
so it read 99. 

“Ho!” said Hilbert, “that will not get the 
prize. We shall not go 299 miles. I would 
not exchange mine for yours on any account.” 

“No,” said Mr. Chauncy, “nor would I ex¬ 
change mine for yours. ’ ’ 

“Why?” said Hilbert. “Do you think there 
is any chance of the ship’s making 299?” 

“No,” replied Mr. Chauncy, “and that is 
the very reason I like my ticket. If I had 
yours, I should be afraid I might get the 
prize. ” 

“Afraid?” repeated Hilbert. 

“Yes,” said Mr. Chauncy. 

“Why should you be afraid?” asked Hilbert, 
much surprised. 

“Because,” said Mr. Chauncy, “I should not 
know what to do with the money. I would 
not put it in my purse; for I don’t let anything 
go in there but honest money. I don’t know 
who I could give it to. Besides, I should not 
like to ask anybody to take what I should be 
ashamed to keep myself. I should really be 
in a very awkward situation.” 

As he said this, Mr. Chauncy held his ticket 
between his thumb and finger, and looked at 
the number. Neither he nor Hilbert suspected 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


147 


for a moment that there was any mistake in 
reading it; for, not having paid any attention 
to the scheme, as it is called, of the lottery, 
they did not know how high the numbers went. 

“There is a possibility that I may get it, 
after all,” said Mr. Chauncy at length, mus¬ 
ing. “We have had fine weather, and have 
been coming on fast. The best thing for me 
to do is to get rid of the ticket. Have you got 
a ticket, Rollo?” said he, turning to Rollo. 

“No, sir,” said Rollo. 

“I have a great mind to give it to you, 
then. ” 

“No, sir,” said Rollo; “I would rather not 
have it.” 

“That is right,” said Mr. Chauncy. “I like 
you the better for that. I know what I will 
do with it. Do you remember an Irish woman 
that you see sitting on the forward deck some¬ 
times with her two children?” 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “she is there now.” 

“Very well,” said Mr. Chauncy, “carry this 
to her, and tell her it is a ticket in a lottery, 
and it may possibly draw a prize. Have you 
any conscientious scruples about doing that?” 

“No, sir,” said Rollo. 

“Then take the ticket and go,” said Mr. 
Chauncy. “Tell her she had better sell the 
ticket for two shillings, if she gets a chance. 
There may be somebody among the gamblers 
that will buy it. ” 

So Rollo took the ticket and carried it to the 
Irish woman. She was a woman who was re¬ 
turning to Ireland as a deck passenger. She 


148 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


was quite poor. When Rollo tendered her the 
ticket, she was, at first, much surprised. Rollo 
explained the case fully to her, and concluded 
by repeating Mr. Chauncy’s advice—that she 
should sell the ticket, if she could get a chance 
to sell it for as much as two shillings. The 
woman, having been at sea before, understood 
something about such lotteries, and seemed to 
be quite pleased to get a ticket. She asked 
Rollo to tell such gentleman as he might 
meet that she had 99 to sell for two shillings. 
This, however, Rollo did not like to do, and so 
he simply returned to the settee and reported 
to Mr. Chauncy that he had given the woman 
the ticket and delivered the message. 

Mr. Chauncy said he was very much obliged 
to him; and then, rising from his seat, he 
walked slowly away, and descended into the 
cabin. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


149 


CHAPTER X. 

THE END OF THE LOTTERY. 

In almost all cases of betting and lotteries 
the operation of the system is, that certain per¬ 
sons, called the knowing ones, contrive to man-' 
age the business in such a way, by secret 
manoeuvres and intrigues, as to make the re¬ 
sult turn out to their advantage, at the expense 
of those parties concerned who are ignorant 
and inexperienced, or, as they term it, 
“green.” Very deep plans were laid for ac¬ 
complishing this object in respect to the lottery 
described in the last chapter; though, as it 
happened in this case, they were fortunately 
frustrated. 

The principal of these manoeuvres were the 
work of the man whom they called the Colonel. 
He had formed the plan, with another man, of 
secretly watching the operation of heaving the 
log every time it was performed, and making 
a note of the result. By doing this, he thought 
he could calculate very nearly how many miles 
the ship would make, while all the other pas¬ 
sengers would have nothing to guide them but 
such general estimates as they could make 
from recollection. He accordingly arranged it 
with his confederates that one or the other of 
them should be on deck whenever the men 


150 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


were called to heave the log, and, without 
appearing to pay any particular attention to 
the operation, carefully to obtain the result, 
and make a memorandum of it. This plan was 
sufficient for the daytime. For the night—in¬ 
asmuch as it might excite suspicion for them 
to be up at unseasonable hours to watch the 
operation—they resorted to another method. 
They bribed one of the seamen of each watch 
to find out the result of each trial during his 
watch, and to give them the answers in the 
morning. When the last time for the heaving 
the log, previous to making up the accounts for 
the day, came, which was at ten o’clock, they 
took that result, and then, shutting themselves 
up in their state room, they made a calcula¬ 
tion, and ascertained pretty certainly, as they 
thought, that the distance would be about 267 
miles. It might possibly be 266, or 268; but 
they thought that they were sure that it would 
be one of these three numbers. The next 
thing was to circulate statements, and to ex¬ 
press opinions in private conversation here and 
there among the passengers, in a careless sort 
of way, to produce a general impression that 
the rate of the ship would not be less than 270 
miles. This was to lead the owners of the 
tickets, and the bettors generally, not to attach 
a high value to the number below 270. By 
doing this, they expected to depress the value 
of these tickets in the general estimation, so 
that they could buy them easily. They calcu¬ 
lated that, if their plans succeeded, they could 
buy 266, 267 and 268 for about a sovereign 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


151 


apiece—the holders of them being made to sup¬ 
pose, by their manoeuvres, that those numbers 
would have very little chance of obtaining the 
prize. 

The plan was very deeply laid, and very skil¬ 
fully executed; and the men were so far suc¬ 
cessful in their efforts that they did produce a 
general impression that the ship’s run could 
not be below 270. They also bought ticket 
268, though they had to give two sovereigns for 
it. It has already been shown how their at¬ 
tempts to get possession of 267 failed, by Hil¬ 
bert’s refusal to sell it. They, of course, also 
failed to get 266, for that ticket was not to be 
found. They could not make any very open 
and public inquiries for it, as it was necessary 
that everything which they did should be per¬ 
formed in a very unconcerned and careless 
manner. They, however, made repeated in¬ 
quiries privately for this ticket, but could not 
get any tidings of it. A certain sailor told 
some of the bettors that an Irish woman on 
the forward deck had a ticket which she offered 
to sell for two shillings; but when, on being 
asked what the number was, he answered 99, 
they laughed at him, supposing that somebody 
had been putting a hoax upon the poor Irish 
woman, as there was no such number as that 
in the lottery. 

Besides the manoeuvres of these two confed¬ 
erates, there was another man who was devis¬ 
ing a cunning scheme for obtaining the prize. 
This was the mate of a merchant ship that had 
put into,the port of New York in a damaged 


152 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


condition, and had there been sold. The mate, 
being thus left without a vessel, was now re¬ 
turning as a passenger in the steamer, to Scot¬ 
land, where he belonged. 

This man was accustomed to navigation; 
and he had the necessary books for making 
the computations in his trunk. He conceived 
the idea of being present on deck at twelve 
o’clock, when the captain made his observa¬ 
tion, and of learning from him, as it were acci¬ 
dentally, what the sun’s altitude was observed 
to be. This he could very easily do, for it was 
customary to have the observation made not 
only by the captain, but one or two of the 
chief officers of the ship also, at the same time, 
who are all always provided with sextants for 
the purpose. The results, when obtained, are 
compared together, to see if they agree—each 
observer telling the others what altitude he 
obtains. Thus they are more sure of getting 
the result correctly. Besides, it is important 
that these officers should have practice, so that 
they may be able to take the observation when 
the captain is sick, or when they come to com¬ 
mand ships themselves. 

Now, the mate above referred to thought 
that, by standing near the captain and his 
officers when they made the observations, he 
could overhear them in comparing their re¬ 
sults, and then that he could go down into his 
state room immediately; and that there, by 
working very diligently, he could ascertain the 
run of the ship before it should be reported on 
the captain’s bulletin, and so know beforehand 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


153 


what ticket would gain the prize. Or, if he 
could not determine absolutely what the pre¬ 
cise ticket would be—since his computation 
might not agree precisely with that made by 
the captain—he could determine within two 
or three of the right one, and then buy three 
tickets—that is, the one which agreed with 
his calculation, and also the one above and be¬ 
low it—for perhaps a sovereign or so apiece: 
he would thus get the ten sovereigns by an 
expenditure of three or four. His plan, in fact, 
was similar to that of the Colonel; only his 
estimate was to be based on the observation, 
while that of the Colonel was based on the 
dead reckoning. They both performed their 
computations in a very skilful manner, and 
they came to nearly the same result. The 
mate came to the conclusion that the run of 
the ship would be 266 miles; while the Col¬ 
onel, as has already been stated, made it 267. 
While, therefore, the Colonel, to make sure of 
the prize, wished to buy tickets 266, 267 and 
268, the mate wished to secure 265, 266 and 
267. The mate, after making some inquiry, 
found who had 265; and, after some bargain¬ 
ing, succeeded in buying it for two sovereigns 
and a half. But he could not hear anything of 
266. As for 267, he discovered that Hilbert 
had it, just as the bell rang for luncheon. He 
told Hilbert that if he wished to sell his ticket 
he would give him thirty shillings for it, which 
is a sovereign and a half. But Hilbert said no. 

It is, however, time that this story of the 
lottery should draw to a close, were it not so, 


154 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 


a great deal more detail might have been given 
of the manoeuvres and contrivances which both 
the Colonel and the mate resorted to, to induce 
Hilbert to sell his ticket. These efforts at¬ 
tracted no special attention, for all the others 
were buying and selling tickets continually, 
and making offers for those which they could 
not buy. Some were put up at auction, and 
sold to the highest bidder, amid jokes, and 
gibes, and continual shouts of laughter. 

At length, when the time drew nigh for the 
captain’s bulletin to appear, the mate offered 
Hilbert three pounds for his ticket, and Hil¬ 
bert went and asked his father’s advice about 
accepting this offer. His father hesitated for 
some time, but finally advised him not to sell 
his ticket at all. Hilbert was satisfied with 
this advice, for he now began to be quite sure 
that he should get the prize. 

At length, about fifteen minutes after the 
party had come up from luncheon, and were 
all assembled around the paddle-box settee, a 
gentleman came up one of stairways with a 
slip of paper in his hands, and, advancing to 
the group, he attempted to still the noise they 
were making, by saying,— 

“Order, gentlemen, order. I’ve got the bul¬ 
letin.’’ 

Everybody’s attention was arrested by these 
words, and all began to call out “Order” and 
‘‘Silence!” until at length something like quiet 
was restored. The persons assembled were all 
very much interested in learning the result; 
for, in addition to the prize of the lottery, there 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


155 


were a great many bets, some of them quite 
large, pending, all of which were to be decided 
by the bulletin. 

When, at length, the gentleman found that 
he could be heard, he began to read in a very 
deliberate voice,— 

“Latitude forty-eight, thirty-one.” 

“Never mind the latitude,” exclaimed the 
company. “The distance. Let’s have the 
distance. ” 

“Longitude,” continued the reader, “ten, 
fourteen. ” 

“Nonsense!” said the company. “What’s 
the distance?” 

“Distance,” continued the reader, in the 
same tone, “two hundred and sixty-six.” 

“Sixty-six!” they all exclaimed together; 
and great inquiries were immediately made for 
the missing ticket. But nobody knew any¬ 
thing about it. At last, Mr. Chauncy’s com¬ 
panion, Charles, who happened to be there, 
said,— 

“Why, Chauncy had 66, I believe.” Then 
calling out aloud to Mr. Chauncy, who had 
come up on the deck after luncheon, and was 
now sitting on one of the settees that stood 
around the skylight, he added,— 

“Chauncy! here! come here! Where is 
your ticket? You have got the prize.” 

“No,” said Mr. Chauncy, in a careless tone, 
without, however, moving from his seat. “I 
have not any ticket.” 

Two or three of the gentlemen, then, headed 
by Charles, went to the place where Mr. 


156 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


Chauncy was sitting, to question him more 
particularly. 

“Where’s your ticket?” said Charles. 

“I gave it to one of the deck passengers,” 
said Mr. Chauncy. 

“You did!” said Charles. “Well, it has 
drawn the prize. What was the number of 
it?” 

“Ninety-nine, I believe,” said Mr. Chauncy. 

“Ninety-nine!” repeated Charles, contemp¬ 
tuously. “Nonsense! There was no ninety- 
nine. It was sixty-six.” 

Then, shouting with laughter, he said, “O, 
dear me! that’s exactly like Chauncy. He 
gives half a sovereign for a tcket, then reads it 
upside down, and gives it away to an Irish¬ 
woman. O Gemini!” 

So saying, Charles, and those with him, 
went away, laughing vociferously at Chauncy’s 
expense. 

The remainder of the adventurers in the lot¬ 
tery had in the meantime dispersed, having 
slunk away, as is usual in such cases, to con¬ 
ceal their mortification and chagrin. It was 
not merely that they had each lost a half sov¬ 
ereign; but they had all calculated, with 
greater or less certainty, on getting the prize; 
and the vexation which they experienced at 
the disappointment was extreme. Some of 
them had bought up several tickets, in order to 
make sure of the prize. These were, of course, 
doubly and trebly chagrined. Some had been 
offered good prices for their tickets, but had 
refused to accept them, hoping, by keeping the 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


157 


tickets, to get the prize. These persons were 
now vexed and angry with themselves for not 
accepting these offers. Then there was a feel¬ 
ing of guilt and condemnation which mingled 
with their disappointment, and made it very 
bitter and hard to bear. 

The Colonel and the mate, when they learned 
that the Irishwoman held the winning ticket, 
both immediately began to saunter slowly 
along toward the stairways that led down to 
the forward deck, each having formed the plan 
of going and buying the ticket of the woman 
before she should hear that it had gained the 
prize. They moved along with a careless and 
unconcerned air, in order not to awaken any 
suspicion of their designs. They were sus¬ 
pected, however, both of them, by Mr. Chauncy. 
He accordingly walked forward, too, and 
reached a part of the promenade deck that was 
near the smoke pipe, where he could look down 
upon the place where the woman was sitting. 
He reached the spot just as two men came 
before her, one having descended by one stair¬ 
case, and the other by the other. When they 
met each other, close before where the woman 
was sitting, they each understood in an instant 
for what purpose the other had come. They 
knew, too, that it would defeat the object alto¬ 
gether if they both attempted to buy the ticket; 
and yet there was no time or opportunity to 
make any formal stipulation on the subject 
between them. Such men, however, are 
always very quick and cunning, and ready for 
all emergencies. The mate, without speaking 


158 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


to the woman, gave a wink to the Colonel, and 
said in an undertone, as he sauntered slowly 
along by him,— 

“Colonel! half!” 

“Done!" said the Colonel. 

So the mate passed carelessly on, leaving the 
Colonel to manage the negotiation, with the 
understanding that they were to share the 
profits of the transaction between them. 

Just at this moment, Mr. Chauncy, who was 
looking down upon this scene from above, 
called out to the woman,— 

“My good woman, your ticket has drawn the 
prize. The Colonel has come to pay you the 
money." 

The Colonel was overwhelmed with astonish¬ 
ment and vexation at this interruption. He 
looked up, with a countenance full of rage, to 
see from whom the sound proceeded. There 
were one or two other gentlemen standing with 
Chauncy as witnesses of the scene; and the 
Colonel saw at once that his scheme was 
defeated. So he made a virtue of necessity, 
and, taking out the purse, he poured the ten 
sovereigns into the poor woman’s lap. She 
was overwhelmed and bewildered with aston¬ 
ishment at finding herself suddenly in posses¬ 
sion of so much money. 

As for Hilbert, there were no bounds to the 
vexation and anger which he experienced in 
the failure of all his hopes and expectations. 

“What a miserable fool I was!" said he. “I 
might have had that very ticket. He as good 
as offered to exchange with me. Such a stupid 



ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


159 


dolt as I was, not to know when it was upside 
down! Then, besides, I was offered two 
pounds for my ticket, sure—and I believe I 
should have taken it, if my father had not 
advised me not to do it. That would have 
come to almost fifteen dollars, and that I 
should have been sure of. So much for taking 
my father’s advice. I hope they’ll get up 
another lottery to-morrow, and then I’ll buy a 
ticket and do just as I please with it, and not 
take anybody’s advice. I shall be sure to 
make fifteen dollars, at least, if I don’t do any 
better than I might have done to-day.” 

The rest of the company felt very much as 
Hilbert did about their losses and disappoint¬ 
ments, though the etiquette of gambling, 
which they understood better than he, forbade 
their expressing feelings so freely. In fact, 
one source of the illusion which surrounds this 
vice is, that the interest which it excites, and 
the hilarity and mirth which attend it during 
its progress, are all open to view, while the dis¬ 
appointment, the mortification, the chagrin, 
and the remorse are all studiously concealed. 
The remorse is the worst ingredient in the 
bitter cup. It not only stings and torments 
those who have lost, but it also spoils the pleas¬ 
ure of those who win. That is, in fact, always 
the nature and tendency of remorse. It ag¬ 
gravates all the pain and suffering that it min¬ 
gles with and poisons all the pleasure. 


160 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


CHAPTER XI. 

THE ARRIVAL. 

Day after day of the voyage thus glided away, 
the time being beguiled by the various inci¬ 
dents which occurred, until at length the ship 
began to draw near toward the land. As the 
time passed on, the interest which the passen¬ 
gers felt in their approach toward the land 
began to be very strong. Some of them were 
crossing the Atlantic for the first time; and 
they, of course, anticipated their first view of 
the shores of the old world with great anticipa¬ 
tions of delight. The first land to be “made,” 
as the sailors say, that is to be seen, was Cape 
Clear—the southern port of Ireland. There 
is a light-house on this point; and so well had 
the captain kept his reckoning, and so exact 
had been his calculations in his progress over 
the mighty waste of waters, that on the morn¬ 
ing of the last day he could venture to predict 
to an hour when the light would come into 
view. He said it would be between nine and 
ten. When Maria and the two children went 
to their berths, Maria asked the chambermaid 
to come and tell them when the light was in 
sight. She accordingly did so. Rollo, in order 
to know how near the captain was in his calcu¬ 
lations, asked her what o’clock it was. She 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


161 


said twenty-five minutes after eight. How 
astonishing must be the accuracy of the instru¬ 
ments and the calculations which can enable a 
man to guide a ship across so utterly trackless 
a waste aiming at a light-house three thousand 
miles away, and not only come out exactly 
upon it, but come there, too, so exactly at the 
time predicted by the calculation! 

When the children went on deck the next 
morning, the southern coast of Ireland was all 
in full view. Those who feel an interest in 
seeing the track the ship, will find, by turning 
to a map of Great Britain and Ireland, that 
her course in going in from the Atlantic toward 
Liverpool lay at first along the southern coast 
of Ireland, and then along the western coast 
of Wales. This route, though it seems but a 
short distance on the map, requires really a 
voyage of several hundred miles, and more 
than a day in time, for the performance of it. 
The voyage of the ship is, therefore, by no 
means ended when she reaches the land at Cape 
Clear. There is still a day and a night more for 
the passengers to spend on board the vessel. 
The time is, however, very much beguiled dur¬ 
ing this last day’s sail by the sight of the land 
and the various objects which it presents to 
view—the green slopes, the castle-covered 
hills, the cliffs, the lines of beach, with surf 
and breakers rolling in upon them; and some¬ 
times, when the ship approaches nearer to the 
shore than usual, the pretty little cottages, 
covered with thatch, and adorned with gardens 
and shrubbery. 

11 Atlantic 


162 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


The children stood by the railing of the deck 
for some time after they came up from below, 
gazing at the shores, and admiring the various 
pictures of rural beauty which the scene pre¬ 
sented to the eye. At length, becoming a 
little tired, they went and sat down upon one 
of the settees, where they could have a more 
comfortable position, and still enjoy a good 
view. Not long afterward, the captain, who 
had been walking up and down the deck for 
some time, came and sat down by them. 

“Well, children,” said he, “are you glad to 
get to the end of the voyage?” 

“Yes, sir,” replied Jennie. “I am glad to 
get safe off of the great sea.” 

“And I suppose that you must be very glad, 
sir,” added Rollo, “to get to the end of your 
responsibility. ’ ’ 

“Ah, but I have not got to the end of my 
responsibility yet, by any means,” said the 
captain. 

As he said this, he rose from his seat, and 
looked out very attentively forward for a min¬ 
ute or two. A length he seemed satisfied, and 
sat down again. 

“Well, you have got through all the danger, 
at any rate,” said Rollo, “now that we are 
inside the land. ” 

“On the contrary,” said the captain, “we 
are just coming into the danger. There 
is very little danger for a good ship, whether 
it is a sailing ship or a steamer, out in the open 
sea. It is only when she comes among the 
rocks, and shoals, and currents, and other dan- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


163 


gers which thicken along the margin of the 
land, that she has much to fear. Ships are 
almost always cast away, when they are cast 
away at all, near or upon the land.” 

“Is that the way?” replied Rollo. “1 
thought they were cast away at sea. I am 
sure it looks a great deal safer here than it 
does out in the middle of the ocean.” 

“I suppose so, to your eyes,” replied the 
captain. “But you will see, by reflecting on 
the subject, that it is, in fact, just the con¬ 
trary. If a very violent storm comes up when 
the ship is out in the open sea, it can ordinarily 
do no harm, only to drive the ship off her 
course, or perhaps carry away some of her 
spars or sails. If there is no land in the way, 
she is in very little danger. But it is very 
different if a gale of wind comes up suddenly 
in such a place as this.” 

“And how is it here?” asked Rollo. 

“Why, in the case of a good steamer like 
this,” said the captain, “it makes no great 
difference here; for we go straight forward on 
our course, as long as we can see, let it blow 
as it will. But a sailing vessel would very 
probably not be able to stand against it, but 
would be driven off toward any rocks, or sand 
banks, or shores that might happen to be in 
the way. ” 

“And so she would certainly be wrecked, ” 
said Rollo. 

“No, not certainly,” replied the captain. 
“As soon as they found that the water was 
shoaling, they would anchor.” 


164 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


“How do they know when the water is shoal¬ 
ing?" asked Rollo. 

“By the lead,” replied the captain. “Did 
you never sound with the lead and line?” 

“No, sir,” replied Rollo. 

“Well, they have a lead, and a long line, ” 
rejoined the captain, “and they let the lead 
down to the bottom by means of the line, and 
so learn how deep the water is. The lead is 
round and long. It is about as large round, 
and about as long, as Jennie’s arm, from her 
elbow to her wrist, and there is a small cavity 
in the lower end of it.” 

“What is that for?” asked Rollo. 

“That is to bring up some of the sand, or 
mud, or gravel, or whatever it may be, that 
forms the bottom, ’ ’ replied the captain. ‘ ‘ They 
put something into the hole, before they let the 
lead down, to make the sand or gravel stick. 
When they see the nature of the bottom in this 
way, it often helps them to determine where 
they are, in case it is a dark night, or a foggy 
day, and they have got lost. It is very easy 
to measure the depth of the sea in this way, 
where it is not over a few hundred fathoms.” 
“How much is a fathom?” asked Rollo. 

“Six feet,” replied the captain; “that is as 
far as a man can reach by stretching out both 
hands along a wall. If the water is only a few 
hundred fathoms deep, ” continued the captain, 
“we can sound; but if it is much deeper than 
that, it is very difficult to get the lead down.” 

“Why, I should think,” said Rollo, “that the 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


165 


lead would go down to the bottom of itself, no 
matter how deep the water was.” 

“It would,” said the captain, “were it not 
for the line. But the line has some buoyancy; 
and, besides, it makes a great deal of friction 
in being drawn through the water; so that, 
when the line begins to get very long, it 
becomes very difficult for the lead to get it 
down. As they let out the line from the ship, 
it goes more and more slowly, until at last it 
does not seem to move at all. ’ ’ 

“Then the lead must be on the bottom,” said 
Rollo. 

“No, that is not certain,” said the captain. 
“It may be only that the quantity of line that 
is out is sufficient to float the lead. Besides 
that, the currents in the water, which may set 
in different directions at different depths, carry 
the line off to one side and the other, so that it 
lies very crooked in the water, and the weight 
of the lead is not sufficient to straighten it.” 

“Then they ought to have a heavier lead, I 
should think, ’ ’ said Rollo. 

“Yes,” said the captain; “and for deep-sea 
soundings they do use very heavy sinkers. 
Sometimes they use cannon balls as heavy as a 
man can lift. Then they take great pains, too, 
to have a very light and small line. Still, with 
all these precautions, it is very difficult, after 
some miles of the line are run out, to tell when 
the shot reaches the bottom. In some of the 
deepest places in the sea, the line, when they 
attempt to sound, is all day running out. I 
knew one case where they threw the shot over- 


166 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


board in the morning, and the line continued 
to run out, though slower and slower, of 
course, all the time, until night. It changed 
its rate of running so gradually, that at last 
they could not tell whether it was running or 
not. It seemed to float idly in the water, sink¬ 
ing slowly all the time; and yet they could not 
tell whether it was drawn in by the drifting of 
the portion of the line already down, or by the 
weight of the shot. So they could not tell cer¬ 
tainly whether they had reached bottom or 
not. 

“There is another thing that is curious about 
it,” added the captain; “and that is, that, 
when a line is let out to such a length, they 
can never get it back again.” 

“Why not?” asked Rollo. 

“It is not strong enough,” said the captain, 
“to bear the strain of drawing such an immense 
length out of the water. There is a very con¬ 
siderable degree of friction produced in draw¬ 
ing a line of any kind through the water; and 
when the line is some miles in length, and has, 
besides, a heavy ball at the end of it, the resist¬ 
ance becomes enormous. Whenever they 
attempt to draw up a sounding line of such a 
length, it always parts at a distance of a few 
hundred fathoms from the surface, so that only 
a small part of the line is ever recovered.” 

“I should not suppose it would be so hard to 
draw up the line,” said Rollo. “I should 
have thought that it would come up very 
easily. ’ * 

“No,” said the captain. ‘‘If you draw even 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


167 


a whiplash through the water, you will find 
that it draws much harder than it does on the 
grass; and if a boy’s kite were to fall upon a 
pond at a great distance from the shore, I 
don’t think he could draw it in by the string. 
The string would break, on account of the 
friction of the string and of the kite in the 
water. Sometimes, in naval battles, when 
a ship is pretending to try to escape, in order 
to entice another ship to follow her, away 
from the rest of the fleet, they tow a rope 
behind, and this rope, dragging in the water, 
retards the ship, and prevents her from going 
very fast, notwithstanding that all the sails are 
set, and she seems to be sailing as fast as she 
can ” 

“That’s a curious way of doing it,” said 
Rollo; “isn’t it, Jennie?’’ 

Jennie thought that it was a very curious 
way indeed. 

“There is no difficulty,” said the captain, 
resuming his explanations, “in finding the 
depth of the sea in harbors and bays, or at any 
place near the shore; for in all such places it is 
usually much less than a hundred fathoms. So 
when in a dark night, or in a fog, the ship is 
driven by the wind in a direction where they 
know there is land, they sound often; and 
when they find that the water is shoal enough, 
they let go the anchor.” 

“And so the anchor holds them,” said 
Jennie, “I suppose, and keeps them from 
going against the land.” 

“Yes,” said the captain, “generally, but 


168 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


not always. Sometimes the bottom is of 
smooth rock, or of some other hard formation, 
which the flukes of the anchor cannot pene¬ 
trate, and then the ship drifts on toward the 
land, dragging the anchor with her.” 

“And what do they do in that case?” asked 
Rollo. 

“Very often there is nothing that they can 
do,” said the captain, “except to let out more 
cable, cautiously, so as to give the anchor a 
better chance to catch in some cleft or crevice ~ 
in the bottom. Sometimes it does catch in 
this manner, and then the ship is stopped, and, 
for a time the people on board think they 
are safe. ’ ’ 

“And are they safe?” asked Rollo. 

“Perhaps so,” replied the captain; “and yet 
there is still some danger. The anchor may 
have caught at a place where the cable passes 
over the edge of a sharp rock, which soon cuts 
it off, in consequence of the motion. Then 
the ship must go on shore. 

“At other times,” continued the captain, 
“the ground for the anchor is too soft, instead 
of being too hard; and the flukes, therefore, 
do not take a firm hold of it. Then the 
anchor will drag. Every sea that strikes the 
ship drives her a little in toward the shore, 
and she is, of course, in great danger.” 

The captain would, perhaps, have gone on 
still further in his conversation with the 
children, had it not happened that just at this 
time, on rising to look out forward, he saw a 
large ship, under full sail, coming down the 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


1G9 


channel. So he rose, and went up upon one 
of the paddle boxes, to see that a proper look¬ 
out was kept, to avoid a collision. 

The seas which lie between England and 
Ireland are so wide, and they are so provided 
with lighthouses and buoys, that no pilot is 
necessary for the navigation of them; and the 
pilot boats, therefore, which contain the pilot 
who is to take the vessel into port, generally 
await the arrival of the ship off the mouth of 
the Mersey, at a place which the steamer 
reaches about twenty-four hours after making 
Cape Clear. When the steamer in which 
Rollo made his voyage arrived at this place, 
almost all the passengers came on deck to wit¬ 
ness the operation of taking the pilot on board. 
There were ships and steamers to be seen on 
every side, proceeding in different directions— 
some going across to Ireland, some south¬ 
wardly out to sea; and there were others, still, 
which were, like the steamer, bound in to 
Liverpool. Among these, there was a small 
vessel at a distance from the steamer, with a 
certain signal flying. This signal was to show 
that this boat was the one which contained the 
pilot whose turn it was to take the steamer in. 
The captain gave the proper orders to the 
helmsman, and the steamer gradually turned 
from her course, so as to approach the spot 
where the pilot boat was lying. As she came 
near, a little skiff was seen at the stern of the 
pilot boat, with men getting into it. In a 
moment more, the skiff pushed off and rowed 
toward the steamer. A sailor stood on a sort 


170 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


of platform abaft the wheel house to throw 
the men in the skiff a rope when they came 
near. The engine was stopped, and the 
monstrous steampipe commenced blowing off 
the steam, which, being now no longer em¬ 
ployed to work the engine, it would be danger¬ 
ous to keep pent up. The steam, in issuing 
from the pipe, produced a dense cloud of 
smoke and a terrific roaring. 

In the meantime, the skiff approached the 
ship, and the men on board of it caught the 
rope thrown to them by the sailor on the plat¬ 
form. By this rope they were drawn up to the 
side of the ship at a place where there was a 
ladder; and then the pilot, leaving the skiff, 
clambered up and came on board. The men 
in the skiff then pushed off and turned to go 
back toward the pilot boat. The roaring of 
the steam suddenly ceased, the paddle wheels 
began again to revolve, and the ship recom¬ 
menced her motion. The pilot went up upon 
the paddle box and gave orders to the helms¬ 
man how to steer, while the captain came 
down. His responsibility and care in respect 
to the navigation of the ship for that voyage 
was now over. 

In fact, the passengers began to consider 
the voyage ended. They all went to work 
packing up their trunks, adjusting their 
dresses, changing their caps for hats, and mak¬ 
ing other preparations for the land. 

As the time drew nigh for going on shore, 
Jennie began to feel some apprehension on 
the subject, inasmuch as, judging from all the 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


171 


formidable preparations which she saw going 
on around her, she inferred that landing in 
Liverpool from an Atlantic steamer must be 
a very different thing from going on shore at 
New York after a voyage down the Hudson. 
As for Rollo, his feelings were quite the 
reverse from Jennie’s. He not only felt no 
solicitude on the subject, but he began to be 
quite ambitious of being ashore alone—that is, 
without anyone to take charge of him. 

“We shall get along, Jennie, very well 
indeed,” said Rollo. “I asked one of the pas¬ 
sengers about it. The custom-house officers 
will come and look into our trunks, to see if 
we have got any smuggled goods in them. 
They won’t find any in ours, I can tell them. 
Then all I have got to do is, to ask one of the 
cabmen to take us in his cab, and carry us to 
a hotel.” 

“To what hotel?” asked Jennie. 

“Why—I don’t know,” said Rollo, rather 
puzzled. “To the best hotel. I’ll just tell 
him to the best hotel. ” 

“Well,” said Jennie, “and what then?” 

“Well,—and then,”—said Rollo, looking a 
little perplexed again, and speaking rather 
doubtingly,—“then,—why, I suppose that 
father will send somebody there to find us.” 

Jennie was not convinced; but she had noth¬ 
ing more to say, and so she was silent. 

Rollo’s plan, however, of taking care of him¬ 
self in the landing seemed not likely to be 
realized; for there were not less than three 
different arrangements made, on the evening 


172 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


of the arrival, for taking care of him. In the 
first place, his father and mother were at the 
Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, awaiting the 
arrival of the steamer, and intending to go on 
board as soon as the guns should announce her 
coming. In the second place, Mr. Chauncy, 
Maria’s brother, said that they should go with 
him and Maria. He would take the children, 
he said, to a hotel, and then take immediate 
measures to find out where Mr. Holiday was. 
In the third place, the captain came to Rollo 
just after sunset, and made a similar proposal. 

Rollo, not knowing anything about his 
father’s plan, accepted Mr. Chauncy’s offer; 
and then, when the captain came, he thanked 
him for his kindness, but said that he was 
going with Mr. Chauncy and Maria. 

“Then you will go in the night,” said the 
captain; “for Mr. Chauncy is the bearer of 
dispatches. ” 

Rollo did not understand what the captain 
meant by this, though it was afterward ex¬ 
plained to him. The explanation was this: 
Every steamer, besides the passengers, carries 
the mails. The mails, containing all the let¬ 
ters and papers that are passing between the 
two countries, are conveyed in a great number 
of canvas and leather bags, and sometimes in 
tin boxes; enough, often, to make several cart¬ 
loads. Besides these mails, which contain the 
letters of private citizens, the government of 
the United States has always a bag full of 
letters and papers which are to be sent to the 
American minister in London, for his instruc- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


173 


tion. These letters and papers are called the 
government dispatches. They are not sent 
with the mails, but are intrusted usually to 
some one of the passengers—a gentleman 
known to the government as faithful and trust¬ 
worthy. This passenger is called the bearer 
of dispatches. 

Now, the steamers, when they arrive at 
Liverpool, cannot usually go directly up to 
the pier, because the water is not deep enough 
there, except at particular states of the tide. 
They accordingly have to anchor in the stream, 
at some distance from the shore. As soon as 
they anchor, whether it is by day or by night, 
£ small steamer comes alongside to get the 
mails and the dispatches; for they must be 
landed immediately, so as to proceed directly 
to London by the first train. The bearer of 
dispatches, together with his family, or those 
whom he has directly under his charge, are, 
of course, allowed to go on shore in the small 
steamer with the dispatch bag, but the rest 
of the passengers have to wait to have their 
trunks and baggage examined by the custom¬ 
house officers. If the vessel gets to Liverpool 
in the night, they have to wait until the next 
morning. This was what the captain meant 
by saying, that, if the children went on shore 
with Mr, Chauncy, they would go in the night; 
for he then expected to get to his anchoring 
ground so that the boat for the mails would 
come off to the ship at about half past twelve. 

Accordingly, that evening, when bedtime 
came, Maria and the children did not go to 



174 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


bed, but they lay down upon the couches and 
in their berths, in their dayclothes, awaiting 
the summons which they expected to receive 
when the small steamer should come. In the 
meantime, the ship went on, sometimes going 
very slowly, and sometimes stopping alto¬ 
gether, in order to avoid a collision with some 
other vessel which was coming in her way. 
The night was foggy and dark, so that her pro¬ 
gress, to be safe, was necessarily slow. At 
length, Maria and the children, tired of wait¬ 
ing and watching, all three fell asleep. They 
were, however, suddenly aroused from their 
slumbers about midnight by the chambermaid, 
who came into the state room and told them 
that Mr. Chauncy was ready. 

They rose and hurried up on deck. Their 
trunks had been taken up before them. When 
they reached the deck, they found Mr. 
Chauncy there and the captain, and with them 
two or three rather rough-looking men, in 
shaggy coats, examining their trunks by the 
light of lanterns which they held in their 
hands. The examination was very slight. 
The men merely lifted up the things in the 
corners a little, and, finding that there ap¬ 
peared to be nothing but clothing in the 
trunks, they said, “All right!” and then shut 
them up again. All this time the steampipe 
of the little steamer alongside kept up such a 
deafening roar that it was almost impossible to 
hear what was said. 

The way of descent to get down from the 
deck of the great steamer to the little one was 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


175 


very steep and intricate, and it seemed doubly 
so on account of the darkness and gloom of 
the night. In the first place, you had to climb 
up three or four steps to get to the top of the 
bulwarks; then to go down a long ladder, 
which landed you on the top of the paddle box 
of the steamer. From this paddle box you 
walked along a little way over what they called 
a bridge; and then there was another flight of 
stairs leading to the deck. As all these stairs, 
and also the sides of both the steamers, were 
painted black, and as the water looked black 
and gloomy too, the whole being only faintly 
illuminated by the lurid glare of the lanterns 
held by the men, the prospect was really very 
disheartening. Maria said, when she reached 
the top of the bulwarks and looked down, that 
she should never dare to go down there in the 
world. 

She was, however, a sensible girl, and as she 
knew very well that there could not be any 
real danger in such a case, she summoned all 
her resolution and went on. Men stood below, 
at the different landing-places, to help her, 
and her brother handed her down from above. 
Mr. Chauncy, as soon as he saw that she had 
safely descended, was going to attend to the 
children, but just at that instant he missed his 
dispatch bag. He asked where it was. Some 
said they believed it had gone down the slide. 
There was a sort of slide by the side of the 
ladder, where the mails and trunks had been 
sent down. Some said it had gone down this 
slide; others did not know. So he directed 



176 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


the children to wait a moment while he went 
down to see. He accordingly descended the 
ladder, and began to look about in a hurried 
manner to see if he could find it. The men on 
board the steamer, in the meanwhile, were 
impatient to cut loose from the ship, the mail 
agent having called out to them to make haste, 
or they would be too late for the train. Accord¬ 
ingly, some of them stood by the ladder, 
ready to take it down; while others seized the 
ropes and prepared to cast them off at a mo¬ 
ment’s notice, as soon as they should hear that 
the dispatch bag was found. They did not 
know that the children were at the top of the 
ladder, waiting to come on board; for it was 
so dark that nothing could be seen distinctly 
except where the lanterns were directly shin¬ 
ing, and the noise made by the roaring of the 
steamer was so great that very little could be 
heard, 

Mr. Chauncy found the dispatch bag very 
soon in the after part of the vessel, where 
somebody had put it in a safe place. As soon 
as he saw it, he said, “Ah, here it is. All 
right!” 

“All right! all right'” said the sailors 
around him, repeating his words in a loud 
tone, when they heard him say that the dis¬ 
patch bag was found. Mr. Chauncy immedi¬ 
ately hurried back to go up the ladder to the 
children; but he was too late. On hearing 
the words “all right!” the men had immedi¬ 
ately drawn down the ladder, and cast off the 
fastenings, so that, by the time that Mr. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


177 


Chauncy reached the paddle box, the noise of 
the steam pipe had suddenly stopped, the pad¬ 
dle wheels were beginning to revolve, and the 
little steamer was gliding rapidly away from 
the vast and towering mass under which it had 
been lying. 

“The children!” exclaimed Mr. Chauncy, 
“the children!” 

“Never mind,” said the captain, in a very 
quiet tone. “It’s too late now. I’ll take care 
of them to-morrow morning.” 

The captain spoke in a manner as calm and 
unconcerned as if the children being left in this 
way was not a matter of the slightest conse¬ 
quence in the world. In fact, the commanders 
of these steamships, being accustomed to en¬ 
counter continually all sorts of emergencies, 
difficulties, and dangers, get in the habit of 
taking everything very coolly, which is, 
indeed, always the best way. 

Then, turning to the children, he said: 

“It’s all right, children. Go below and get 
into your berths again, and I will send you on 
shore to-morrow morning when the rest of the 
passengers go.” 

So Rollo and Jennie went below again. The 
chambermaid was surprised to see them com¬ 
ing back; and when she heard an explanation 
of the case, she advised them to undress them¬ 
selves and go to bed regularly. This they did, 
and were soon fast asleep. 

The next morning, very soon after sunrise, 
another steamer came off from the shore, 
bringing several customhouse officers to exam* 

12 Atlantic 


178 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


ine the passengers’ baggage. By the time that 
this steamer had arrived, a great many of the 
passengers were up, and had their trunks ready 
on deck to be examined. Among the rest was 
Hilbert with his trunk, though his father and 
mother were not yet ready. Hilbert was very 
anxious to get on shore, and so he had got his 
trunk up, and was all ready on the deck half 
an hour before the steamer came. 

When the tug came alongside, Hilbert, who 
was looking down upon her from the prome¬ 
nade deck, observed a neatly-dressed looking 
man on board of it, who seemed to be looking 
at him very earnestly. This was Mr. Holiday’s 
servant. His name was Alfred. When Mr. 
Holiday had gone to bed the night before, he 
had given Alfred orders that in case the 
steamer should come in in the night, or at a 
very early hour in the morning, before it 
would be safe for him, as an invalid, to go out, 
he, Alfred, was to go on board, find the chil¬ 
dren, and bring them on shore. Accordingly, 
when Alfred saw Hilbert, and observed that 
he was of about the same size as Rollo had 
been described to him to be, he supposed that 
it must be Rollo. Accordingly, as soon as the 
tug was made fast, he came up the ladder, and 
immediately made his way to the promenade 
deck, to the place where Hilbert was standing. 
As he approached Hilbert, he touched his hat, 
and then said, in a very respectful tone: 

“Beg pardon, sir. Is this Master Holi¬ 
day?’’ 

“Rollo, do you mean?” said Hilbert. “No. 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


179 


Rollo went ashore last night with the bearer 
of dispatches. ” 

Hilbert knew that this was the arrangement 
which had been made, and he supposed that it 
had been carried into effect. 

Alfred, who was a very faithful and trust¬ 
worthy man, and was accustomed to do every¬ 
thing thoroughly, was not fully satisfied with 
this information, coming as it did from a boy; 
but he waited some little time, and made in¬ 
quiries of other passengers. At last, one gen¬ 
tleman told him that he was sure that Rollo 
had gone on shore, for he saw him and his sis¬ 
ter pass up out of the cabin when the mail tug 
came. He was sitting up in the cabin reading 
at the time. Alfred was satisfied with this 
explanation, and so he called a small boat 
which was alongside, and engaged the boat¬ 
man to row him ashore. 

Thus the second plan for taking care of Rollo 
and Jennie, in the landing, failed. 

All this time Rollo and Jennie were both 
asleep—for the chambermaid, thinking that 
they must be tired from having been up so late 
the night before, concluded to let them sleep 
as long as possible. While they were sleep¬ 
ing, the waiters on board the ship were all em¬ 
ployed in carrying up trunks, and boxes, and 
carpet bags, and bundles of canes and umbrel¬ 
las, from all the state rooms, and spreading 
them about upon the decks, where the custom¬ 
house officers could examine them. The decks 
soon, of course, presented in every part very 
bustling and noisy scenes. Passengers were 


180 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


hurrying to and fro. Some were getting their 
baggage together for examination; some were 
unstrapping their trunks; and others, having 
unstrapped theirs, were now fumbling in their 
pockets, in great distress, to find the keys. It 
is always an awkward thing to lose a trunk 
key; but the most unfortunate of all possible 
times for meeting with this calamity is when a 
customhouse officer is standing by, waiting to 
examine what your trunk contains. Those 
who could not find their keys were obliged to 
stand aside and let others take their turn. As 
fast as the trunks were inspected, the lid of 
each was shut down, and it was marked with 
chalk; and then, as soon as it was locked and 
strapped again, a porter conveyed it to the 
tug, where the owner followed it, ready to go 
on shore. 

In the midst of this scene the captain came 
on deck, and began to look around for the chil¬ 
dren whom he had promised to take care of. 
He made some inquiries for them, and at length 
was told that they had gone ashore. 

“At least, I think they have gone,” said his 
informant. “I saw Mr. Holiday’s coachman 
here, inquiring for them, a short time ago. 
And he seems to be gone. I presume he has 
taken them ashore.” 

“He can’t have taken them ashore,” said 
the captain. “There is nothing to go ashore 
till this tug goes. However, I presume he has 
got them under his charge somewhere.” 

So the captain dismissed the subject from his 
mind; and after remaining a few minutes on 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


181 


deck, and seeing that everything was going on 
well, he went below into his state room, in 
order to write a letter to the owners of the 
ship, to inform them of the safe termination of 
the voyage. 

It was about this time that the chambermaid 
waked Rollo and Jennie. They rose immedi¬ 
ately, and were soon dressed. On going up 
upon the deck, they were somewhat surprised 
to witness the bustling scenes that were enact¬ 
ing there; and they stood for a few minutes * 
surveying the various groups, and watching 
with great interest the process of examining 
the baggage. At length, after following the 
process through in the case of one of the pas¬ 
sengers, who was just opening his trunk when 
they came up, Rollo turned to Jennie, and 
said: 

“It is nothing at all, Jennie. I can do it as 
well as anybody.' * 

So he looked about till he found his trunk, 
and, leading Jennie there, he took his station 
by the side of it, and immediately proceeded 
to unstrap and unlock it. He took out some 
of the largest things from the top of the trunk 
and put them on a settee near, so that the 
officer could easily examine the rest. By the 
time he had done this an officer was ready. 

“Is this your trunk, my lad?” said the officer, 
at the same time lifting up the clothes a little 
at the corners. 

“Yes, sir,” said Rollo. 

“All right,” said the officer, and he shut 
down the lid, and marked the top with a P. 


182 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


Rollo opened his trunk again to put the 
other things in, and then locked and strapped 
it. A porter then took it and carried it on 
board the tender. Rollo and Jennie followed 
him. 

In about half an hour the tender put off from 
the steamer and went to the shore. On the 
way, Jennie, who could not help feeling some 
anxiety about the result of these formidable 
proceedings, said, timidly: 

“I don’t see what we are going to do, Rollo, 
when we get to the shore. ” 

“We will do what the rest do,” said Rollo. 
As soon as the steamer touched the pier and 
began to blow off her steam, a terrific scene of 
noise and confusion ensued. Rollo and Jennie 
stood near their trunk, overawed and silenced; 
but yet Rollo was not, after all, much afraid, 
for he felt confident that it would all come out 
right in the end. He was right in this suppo¬ 
sition ; for as soon as some fifty of the most 
impatient and eager of the passengers had got 
their baggage, and had gone ashore, the tu¬ 
mult subsided in a great measure. At length, 
a porter, after taking away a great many 
trunks near Rollo, asked him if that trunk, 
pointing to Rollo’s, was to go on shore. Rollo 
said that it was. So the porter took it up and 
went away, Rollo and Jennie following him. 

They made their way through the crowd, 
and across the plank, to the pier. When they 
had got upon the pier, the porter turned and 
said, “Do you want a carriage?” Rollo 
anwered, “Yes;” and then the porter immedi- 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


183 


ately put the trunk upon the top of a small 
carriage which was standing there in a line 
with many others. He then opened the door, 
and Rollo and Jennie got in. 

“How much to pay, sir?" said Rollo. 

“Sixpence, if you please, sir,” said the por¬ 
ter. 

Rollo, who had the precaution to provide 
himself with silver change, so as to be ready, 
gave the man a sixpence. Of course, it was 
an English sixpence. 

“Thank you, sir,” said the porter. “Where 
shall he drive?” 

“To the hotel,” said Rollo. 

“To what hotel?” said the porter. 

‘ ‘ Why—I don’ t know, ’' said Rollo. ‘ ‘ To—to 
the best hotel. ’ ’ 

“To the Adelphi,” said the porter to the 
coachman. So saying, he shut the door, and 
the coachman drove away. 

When they arrived at the door of the hotel, 
the landlord, who came out to see who had 
come, supposed at once that his new guests 
must be Mr. Holiday’s children; so he sent 
them up immediately to their father’s parlor, 
where the breakfast table had been set, and 
their father and mother, and Thanny were 
waiting for them. The joy of their parents at 
seeing them was unbounded, and they them¬ 
selves were almost equally rejoiced in finding 
their long voyage brought thus to a safe and 
happy termination. 

In respect to Tiger, however, the end of the 
voyage was unfortunately not so propitious. 


184 


ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 


In the confusion of the landing she was forgot¬ 
ten, and left behind; and Jennie was so excited 
and overjoyed at meeting her mother that it 
was nearly noon before she thought of the kit¬ 
ten at all. Her father then sent Alfred on 
board the ship to see if he could get her. He 
came back with the cage, but he said that the 
kitten was nowhere to be found. He made 
diligent inquiry, but he could obtain no tidings 
of her—and no tidings were ever afterward 
heard. Whether she fell overboard and was 
drowned; or whether the waiters on the ship 
took a fancy to her, and hid her away some¬ 
where in the forecastle in order to keep her for 
their pet and plaything in future voyages; or 
whether she walked over the plank to the pier, 
when the ship came alongside of it, and there 
got enticed away by the Liverpool cats into 
the various retreats and recesses which they 
resort to among the docks and sewers—could 
never be known. At all events, neither Jennie 
nor Rollo ever saw or heard of her again. 










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